40L people affected by Bihar flood, situation grim

More than 40 lakh people are bearing the brunt of devastating floods in Bihar, but the worse is still to come as several rivers in the state continue to maintain an upward trend.

 The Central Water Commission has issued a “red bulletin” for “extreme flood situation” in several parts of Bihar, warning that the rivers Adhwara and Budhi Gandak are likely to swell further and cause flooding. Meanwhile, the India Meteorological Department has also predicted incessant rain in the Nepal-Terai belt.

 Although rivers like Gandak have started showing a downward trend, others like Budhi Gandak, Bagmati and Adhwara have been constantly rising. In several parts of the state, they have reached well above the danger mark already and are expected to rise further within the next couple of days.

It is widely feared that floodwater will enter new areas in Bihar and affected regions will worsen. Districts like Gopalganj, Muzaffarpur, East Champaran, Sheohar, Sitamarhi, Darbhanga and Madhubani are among the worst-hit so far. The swelling rivers are likely to wreck havoc in other parts of the state like Khagadia and Samastipur too.

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar called in a special meeting of the concerned departments and advised authorities to maintain extra vigil along the embankments as the situation is likely to aggravate further in the months of August and September. He also instructed that special arrangements be made in relief camps and people be accommodated after proper screening and provided with masks in light of the Covid-19 pandemic. NDRF and SDRF teams have also been deployed at all strategic locations. Over 3 lakh people have been evacuated so far and approximately 25,000 people are staying in government relief camps. About 1,000 community kitchens have also been set up, and food packets airdropped at other places.

People in several flood affected areas have complained of a lack of boats by the government and have had to rely on country-made boats to move to safer locations. In other places, people have moved to higher locations to stay away from floodwater. Thousands of others have taken shelter along the embankments and on the highways for lack of conveyance. Meanwhile, the river Gandak which had breached its embankment last week at several places in Gopalganj has shown signs of receding, allowing for repair work to go on in full swing at breach sites.