Flood alert in north Bihar after huge water discharge from Nepal

The Bihar government has sounded an alert for floods along swollen Kosi and Gandak rivers in northern part of the state following sudden and heavy discharge of water from Birpur and Valmikinagar barrages on Monday morning, according to officials of the water resources department (WRD).

“Birpur barrage in Supal on Kosi witnessed release of around 4.62 lakh cusecs of water at 2 am, the highest since the flood level of 1989,” said engineer in chief (floods), Shailendra, adding that there was no immediate threat of flooding due to heavy discharge as water was within course of the river. “The sudden surge in discharge was attributed to rains in Nepal in the downstream of Barah Kshetra. The discharge has come down to 2.90 lakh cusecs at 2 pm at Birpur,” the engineer said.

The Valmikinagar barrage on Gandak river in West Champaran district saw release of around 3.30 lakh cusecs of water around 8 am.

In 2022, embankment on Gandak was washed away in Gopalganj and water had topped certain points in West Champaran, when there was sudden discharge of 4.45 lakh cusecs in the river from the barrage. “Situation is not that alarming this time around Gandak river,” Shailendra said, adding that all safety embankments of the department were safe and rivers were flowing within their beds as of now.

The WRD engineer said that rivers in north Bihar might have jumped danger levels at a few stretches, but there was no immediate threat of flooding as Ganga was still in position to absorb huge volume of water. “Currently, Ganga is flowing over the danger level only at Kahalgaon, where it’s maintaining the falling trend,” said Shailendra.

A flood bulletin issued by the WRD said Bagmati river has jumped the danger mark at Sonakhan in Sitamarhi by 60 cm, Dubbadhar in Sheohar (32cm), Kansar in Sitamarhi (16cm), Kataunjha and Benibad in Muzaffarpur by 135 cm and 112 cm, respectively.

This has led to submergence of villages within the embankments and low-lying unprotected areas.

Lal Bakeya was also flowing above the DL at Gowabari in East Champaran by 25 cm. Kosi was flowing above the red mark at Baltara in Khagaria and Kursela in Katihar by around 35-55 cm.