With more rain forecast, Bihar’s flood situation set to worsen

With rain forecast in Nepal and in the catchment areas, the flood situation in North Bihar region is likely to deteriorate, officials said Tuesday. Bihar has received 706.4 mm rain against normal rain of 484.6 mm between June 1 and July 28 which is 46% above the normal. Darbhanga has received 127 % surplus rain followed by East Champaran with 103% during the same period, the Patna Met office said..

In Darbhanga district, the swollen Adhwara river set a new highest flood level (HFL) of 48.5 metres at Bishunpur after 35 years, officials said.

The district has already been facing the devastation unleashed by Khiroi and Bagmati rivers for the past one week in the wake of rains in the foothills of the Himalayas in Nepal.

The water resources department (WRD) has alerted the officials of Kishanganj, Purnia and Katihar districts after the Mahananda river rose by almost two metres at Taiyabpur in Kishangan on Tuesday forenoon. “The rise in water level of Mahananda was attributed to heavy rains in Nepal,” said WRD secretary Sanjiv Hans.

The Burhi Gandak river which has flooded the parts of Muzaffapur, Khagaria and Samastipur, set a few HFL at Sakara in Muzaffapur and thereby exerting tremendous pressure on the safety embankment in the area. The Kosi is also flowing above the danger mark and is hovering near the HFL at Baltara in Khagaria.

Left to fend for themselves, thousands of families have shifted on to embankments or on road with bare minimum belongings to save their life and wait for the water to recede to return home. “Hundreds of families have settled down in makeshift polythene tents on NH 28 near Dewapur and are somehow managing to live in the absence of any government relief,” said Manoj Yadav, a resident of Barauli in Gopalganj.

Meanwhile, floodwaters from the Gandak, which had breached its embankment at three places in East Champaran and Gopalganj, have entered fresh areas.

“Gopalganj is facing unprecedented floods, as pucca houses in Bhawanipur have got submerged with water for the first time in the past many decades,” said Somesh Datt, a local resident.

Rail and road traffic have been disrupted in many districts for the past one week as approach roads to bridges have been washed away and floodwaters are overflowing the roads.

The disaster management department (DMD) claimed that about 29.62 lakh people have so far been hit due to the floods in 837 panchayats of 101 blocks of 12 districts across the state. As many as 808 community kitchens are being run to provide food to those in the government-run shelters.

A couple staying in a makeshift shelter on a roadside along Darbhanga- Jayinagar (NH-527B) at Koyla Asthan was crushed to death in their sleep by a speeding van early Tuesday morning.

The deceased were identified as Surendra Yadav (40) and his wife Paramshila Devi (35), a native of Koyla Asthan village.

Infuriated over the incident, local people staged a protest and blocked roads for nearly four hours in protest while seeking compensation for the bereaved family. The deceased had four children.

The block development officer (BDO) Mahtab Ansari said an ex-gratia amount of ₹4 lakh each, besides ₹30,000 under National Family Benefit Scheme and ₹3,000 under Kabir Antyeshti Yojana were granted to the victims’ family.