As catchment areas of most rivers originating in Nepal have been witnessing heavy rainfall in the last few days, a threat of flood looms large across several parts of Bihar. Rivers such as Bagmati, Kosi, Gandak and others have already shown an upward trend and the river water is constantly flowing above the danger mark.
Of the 56 gates at Kosi Barrage in Birpur area of Nepal, 37 have been opened and the water level is constantly rising. The discharge on Friday evening at Birpur barrage was 2.56685 cusecs.
Even the Gandak river is constantly showing an upward trend and has registered the highest rise this year. The water discharge in Gandak has touched 2.66000 cusecs. All the 36 barrage gates in Valmikinagar area have now been opened and an alert has been sounded.
The Bihar government had recently sounded an alert in over 18 districts of Bihar that could be impacted with a heavy flood. The met department had predicted that from 8 to 12 July there would be very heavy rain in the catchment area of most of the rivers and more so in the entire Bagmati River Basin. Bagmati is swelling and has already flooded several low lying areas in Sheohar district of Bihar.
The DM of Sheohar on Friday accompanied by other officials went for a reality check of the flood-affected areas and has now cancelled the leave of all government employees. Around 15 boats have been stationed in Narkatia village which is surrounded by water from all sides and has been cut off from the district headquarters.
The NDRF and SDRF teams have been put on high alert and loudspeakers are being used in low lying areas to make people aware of the impending threat.
On the other hand, embankment strengthening work is going on a war footing on the western embankment of Kosi where the river has started ferociously hitting the spurs. The water level is rising further. Over a period the siltation has caused rising of the river bed and as such the embankments have become highly vulnerable. At Lal Bakiya river embankment in Baluwa Guwabari area of East Champaran, Nepal continues to stop the work on the embankment even as the river is on the rise.