Bihar reels from floods, nearly 1 million affected
Water resources minister Vijay Kumar Chaudhary said that embankments are also damaged when the water level of swollen rivers reduce, thereby increasing the threats of flooding
Close to a million people have been affected by the floods in northern Bihar after embankments of major rivers such as Kosi, Bagmati and Gandak were damaged following the catastrophic rains in neighbouring Nepal, where 200 people died in the past three days. However, as rainfall reduced in Nepal on Monday, the water levels of the rivers in Bihar also dipped, officials aware of the matter said.
Water resources minister Vijay Kumar Chaudhary said that embankments are also damaged when the water level of swollen rivers reduce, thereby increasing the threats of flooding.
Embankments on Gandak, Bagmati and Kosi rivers have been eroded at several places, leading to flooding in West Champaran, Sitamarhi, Sheohar and Darbhanga districts.
So far, over 9.9 lakh people residing in 269 panchayats of 55 blocks in 16 districts have been affected by the current spell of floods. The affected districts include West and East Champaran, Araria, Kishanganj, Gopalganj, Sitamarhi, Sheohar, Muzaffarpur, Supaul, Siwan, Madhepura, Purnea, Madhubani, Darbhanga, Saran and Saharsa.
Reports of the water resources department said that the floodwaters have entered dozens of villages in Kiratpur block of Darbhanga districts after Kosi breached its west embankment near Tatari village. “Gushing current of Bagmati has washed away embankments at five places in Belsund and Runni Saidpur blocks of Sitamarhi and Tariyari block of Sheohar. Left embankment was demolished at two places — Sauli and Madhkaul villages — in Belsund and two other places — Tilak Tajpur and Nunaura villages — at Runni Saidpur block in Sitamarhi,” said a senior officer of the department on condition of anonymity.
Dozens of villages under Tariyari block of Sheohar have been submerged with floodwaters from Bagmati, which razed a portion of right embankment near Tariyari Chapra village in the district.
Water resources department officials said that work was going on war footing to plug the breach. A stream of Gandak had breached Champaran embankment near Khartawan village in Bagaha. “Water level of the river has risen to an unprecedented level of 94 metre and 90.9 metre at Chhatauni and Bagaha gauge,” said Chaudhary.
He added that for the first time in history so much water has come down to Bihar through rivers from Nepal. “All rivers of north Bihar received unprecedented flow of water due to 60 hours of rainfall in Nepal two days ago. This led to breach of all previous records of highest water level. For the first time, water level in Kosi also rose above Birpur barrage. The department officials faced this difficult situation with promptness at almost every place. This time, despite continuous efforts, there was a breach in Bagmati and Kosi embankments. Due to this, water has spread to Belsand in Sitamarhi, Aurai in Muzaffarpur and Kiratpur in Darbhanga,” said the minister.
“Water was also flowing from the barrage of the Kosi river, where the dam gates are opened. All our officials were alert and vigilant. We received the necessary cooperation from the district administration as well. We managed to control the situation with great difficulty,” he added.
Standing crops of paddy, maize and vegetables have suffered extensive damages in these districts. The agriculture department has embarked on the exercise to assess the damage of crops and vegetables.
The agriculture department said that preliminary meeting of concerned officers, tasked to document the impact of the floods, will be held on Tuesday for early assessment of the damage. “The meeting will be chaired by the departmental secretary Sanjay Agarwal,” said an officer.
State agriculture minister Mangal Pandey said that the chief minister and the state government were closely monitoring the flood situation. “All required steps to provide relief to the flood-affected people are being taken. Food and medicines are being provided to them,” added Pandey.
Prompted by the deterioration in the flood situation, a team of senior officers of the disaster management department, led by its additional chief secretary Pratyay Amrit, undertook an aerial survey of marooned areas of Sitamarhi and Darbhanga districts on Monday and asked the authorities to step up rescue and relief operations.
Considering the gravity of the flood situation in north Bihar, six more teams of the National Disaster Management Authority (NDRF) from Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, and Ranchi, Jharkhand, will be deployed, officials said. Twelve NDRF and 22 State Disaster Management Authority (SDRF) teams have already been deployed in the relief and rescue operations.
Discharge of water from Valmiki Nagar and Birpur barrages on Gandak and Kosi rivers have reduced on Monday morning. The water discharge through Valmikinagar barrage rose to 5.62 lakh cusecs on Sunday, while the same was 1.89 lakh cusecs till 8am on Monday. Birpur barrage recorded discharge of 6.61 lakh cusecs of water in Kosi on Sunday, and the same was reduced to 2.88 lakh cusecs till 8am on Monday, the official said.
Meanwhile, water entered Bakuchi Power Grid complex in Katra as Muzaffarpur reels under a flood-like situation. An engineer at the power station said that the power supply could be shut down anytime in 22 panchayats in Katra block. Approximately 42,000- 43,000 consumers will have to face the problem.
The demand for construction of high dam on Kosi river in Nepal gained momentum yet again. Deputy chief minister Samrat Chaudhary and Rajya Sabha member and former state WRD minister Sanjay Kumar Jha said that flood fury from Kosi could only be curbed if a high dam was built on the river in Nepal.
The idea of building high dam on Kosi in Nepal was mooted decades ago, but it was abandoned due to international issues. Recently, the central government had approved ₹11,000 crore as financial aid to Bihar to build barrages to contain the flood devastation from rivers originating from Nepal.