Bihar Floods: Situation Grim In Six Districts Due To Heavy Flooding; 18 Dead So Far

About 11 lakh people have been affected in the worst-hit Sitamarhi district, followed by 5 lakh in Araria, reports said.

New Delhi: Heavy rains led to flood-like situation in six of the nine affected districts of Bihar. The situation turned grim with death of four people on Sunday, taking the toll in rain-related accidents to 18. Five rivers of the state are flowing above the danger level due to torrential rains in the catchment areas bordering Nepal. In Madhubani, which is deluged due to heavy rains and water released from Nepal, affected people got into scuffle with Member of Parliaments on Sunday. In Araria, which is another deeply affected district, people raised slogans against MP Pradeep Kumar Singh who came to visit the affected people and take a stock of the situation. Of the four deaths, the report said, two were reported from Araria, while one each was reported from Sheohar and Kishanganj districts. A total of 17,96,535 population has been affected by flood waters in 55 blocks of nine districts - Sheohar, Sitamarhi, East Champaran, Madhubani, Araria, Kishanganj, Supaul, Darbhanga and Muzaffarpur. The report added that about 11 lakh people have been affected in the worst-hit Sitamarhi district, followed by 5 lakh in Araria. It said 13 teams of NDRF and SDRF have been deployed to carry out relief and rescue operations in the affected districts. The authorities have also opened 152 relief camps giving shelter to 45,053 people, while 251 community kitchens have been made functional. The chief minister held a high-level meeting to review the flood situation. Later, he conducted the aerial survey of flood-affected areas of Darbhanga, Madhubani, Sheohar, Sitamarhi and East Champaran districts. Water Resources Minister Sanjay Jha, Chief Secretary Deepak Kumar, Additional Chief Secretary (Water Resources department) Arun Kumar and Disaster Management Department Principal Secretary Pratyaya Amrit accompanied Kumar during the aerial survey. At the meeting, the chief minister directed the officials to keep decent arrangement for the flood-hit people at the camps. He also ordered for expediting the relief and rescue operations, an official release said. Around 280 to 300 mm rainfall has been received in the past three-four days in Terai region of Nepal against 50 mm of average rainfall recorded during the past years, it said. The excessive rainfall created a flashflood in the state, causing five rivers - Baghmati, Kamla Balan, Lalbakeya, Adhwara and Mahananda - to flow above danger level at various places. Rain with thunderstorm have been predicted at many places in Bihar in the next four days.