india

Updated: Jul 14, 2019 00:21 IST

Floods ravaged dozens of villages in 26 blocks of Bihar’s six districts, as water in most of the rivers originating from Nepal rose above danger levels, along with incessant rainfall in their catchment areas for the past six days.

Two children reportedly died due to heavy rainfall in Kishanganj, while several villages in other affected districts were submerged in wake of heavy rains in Himalayan regions and in the state.

Chief minister Nitish Kumar will undertake an aerial survey of the flood-hit zones today.

Seven trains were either cancelled, short-terminated or diverted due to the risk of them running in flood-affected districts. Two trains, the Raxaul-Anand Vihar Express and Darbhanga-Jalandhar City Express have been diverted to the Raxaul-Sitamarhi-Muzaffarpur route than their usual route which runs via the Sitamarhi-Raxaul-Sugauli section. The Darbhanga-Raxaul passenger will run between Darbhanga and Sitamarhi instead of Raxual, according to a communiqué from the East Central Railway (ECR) zone.

Pratyay Amrit, principal secretary of the disaster management department (DMD), said that sufficient number of personnel from the State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) and the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) were deployed in trouble prone areas of Araria, Kishanganj, Madhubani, Sitamarhi, Sheohar and Motihari districts, which are currently facing the flood fury.

The water resources department has issued a high alert in the districts bordering Nepal, following the forecast of light to moderate rains in catchment areas of different rivers in Nepal and Bihar. East Champaran (214.92 mm), Sitamarhi (154.55 mm) and Muzaffarpur (125.15 mm) received heavy rainfall in the last 24 hours, heightening the flood threat.

Reports said that rail traffic on the Muzaffarpur-Sitamhari section has been stopped temporarily due to the floods.

Some portions of the National Highway no. 77 between the two districts have also been damaged, owing to flow of flood water from Gandak and incessant rains.

The Bagmati river has inundated Bairgania, Suppi and Majorganj blocks of Sitamarhi district.

Schools have been closed in East Champaran, Araria and Kishanganj due to the flood threat and waterlogging.

Lalbakeya and Gandak river already pose serious threats of flood to many villages under Dhaka block of Motihari.

“All engineers have been directed to be ready with necessary equipment and boulders to meet any eventuality to protect the embankments,” said a WRD officer, adding that the discharge in Gandak and Kosi rivers has been increased, but situation is very much under control.

Kosi was flowing at 2.20 lakh cusecs at Birpur barrage, while Valmikinagar barrage released 1.66 lakh cusecs of water in Gandak on Saturday. Bagmati river was flowing above the danger level in Sitamarhi and Muzaffapur. Some rivers also crossed the danger level in Purnia.