PATNA: Several districts of Bihar have been facing severe flood crisis while a few low laying areas remain under threat of being washed out, after heavy discharge of water from Kosi and Valmiki Nagar Barrage, following incessant rains in Nepal. The situation remained critical as heavy loss of infrastructure and farmlands reported in the last 24 hours, triggering displacements of thousands.
As many as 4.1 lakh population of 152 villages of 31 blocks of several districts, West and East Champaran, Araria, Kishanganj, Gopalganj, Sheohar, Saran, Saharsa, Darbhanga, Siwan, Purnea, Muzaffarpur, Madhubani, Goplaganj, Sitamarhi, and Supaul stand affected after discharge of massive volume of water following heavy rains in the catchment area of Nepal, adjacent to the Indian border.
Thousands of civilians in low laying areas of West Champaran and Sitamarhi districts have been moved to safer locations by the teams of National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) after a breach was noticed in the embankments at Khairtawa village of Bagaha and Belsund of Sitamarhi. Further floodwaters have entered the Katara Bakuchi powergrid in Muzaffarpur district, affecting power supply in the area.
A dozen teams of NDRF along with another separate 12 teams of SDRF have been deployed in affected regions, while three additional teams of NDRF are being called from Varanasi to tackle the crisis, informed the Disaster Management Department (DMD) of Bihar in an official release.
Around 12000 flood-affected residents have taken shelter in 43 relief camps being operated in several parts. The administration has also distributed around 9700 packets of dry rations along over 11000 polythene sheets. 18 community kitchens are being operational while over 600 boats have been deployed to ferry the commuters in the submerged areas, it added.
This comes a week after the DMD, Bihar on September 22, informed that several districts of the state facing flood like situation due to water entering low-laying areas affecting around 1.2 million people including of the Diarar region adjacent to the state capital Patna.
Notably, the Water Resource Department in a separate release on Sunday evening, September 28 informed that the maximum water flow of the season has been recorded in Gandak, Koshi, Mahanananda, and Bagmati rivers after high volume of water around 5.62 lakh cusec from Gandak barrage, Valmiki Nagar and around 6.61 lakh cusec, the largest release in 56 years from Koshi barrage, Birpur was discharghed, following heavy downpour in Nepal.
नेपाल में 27 सितंबर से जारी वर्षा के कारण आज गंडक, कोशी, महानंदा, बागमती आदि नदियों में इस सीजन का अधिकतम जलश्राव दर्ज हुआ है।
जल संसाधन विभाग के अधिकारी व अभियंता अलर्ट हैं तथा विभिन्न स्थलों पर आवश्यकतानुसार बाढ़ संघर्षात्मक कार्य करा कर उसे सुरक्षित रखा जा रहा है।#Details👇 pic.twitter.com/TRfZOonmob
— Water Resources Department, Government of Bihar (@WRD_Bihar) September 29, 2024
A rise of 0.80 meter in water level of Gandak river was observed near Chhatauni gaje station while similar rise in water levels of Koshi, Mahananda, and Bagmati rivers have also been noticed by the officials. Rivers like Kamla Balan and Mahananda water levels are still above the danger mark. War level work pertaining to repair of damaged embankments are being carried out and the department has suspended a concerned official of Flood Control Division, Bagaha for negligence at work, added the press release.
#बिहार : पश्चिम चंपारण जिले में बगहा में गंडक तटबंध के क्षतिग्रस्त होने पर लापरवाही बरतने के आरोप में बगहा बाढ़ प्रमंडल के कार्यपालक अभियंता निशिकांत कुमार निलंबित । pic.twitter.com/RhecL0SBvO
— आकाशवाणी समाचार, पटना (@airnews_patna) September 29, 2024
Significantly, the administration has deputed 90 executive engineers to monitor the situation on ground along establishing a war room in the state capital Patna on Saturday, September 28 to keep a vigil watch on the developing situation for the next three days.
It must be noted that the state of Bihar has long been affected by flood crisis caused by rivers entering the state via Nepal, particularly by Kosi river, infamous as the Sorrow of Bihar. Notably, downpour during the monsoon season often lead to opening of all the gates of Gandak and Kosi barrages at Valmiki Nagar and Birpur, causing severe flood in low laying areas of Bihar
According to reports, a high dam in Nepal could lead to a permanent solution to the seasonal catastrophe faced by the resident of low-laying areas, however building such a high dam in the highly sensitive seismic zone could lead to submergence of a large chunk of area in a short time in case of an earthquake.
