india

Updated: Jul 15, 2019 07:40 IST

The flood situation in Bihar deteriorated Sunday as swirling water of rivers in spate breached embankments at separate places and killed five people.

Officials identified the five as Gulam Sarwar, 45, Ashok Mandal, 38, Baso Lal, 65, Radha Devi, 40, and Indra Nanad Chaudhary, 18. They said over 1.3 million people across 44 blocks in eight districts have been badly hit. They added rivers originating from Nepal have caused the flooding.

Officials said at least four people drowned in floodwaters of the Pamar River in Araria. The floodwaters inundated the block headquarters in Palais and Sikti before entering Araria. Araria magistrate Baidyanath Yadav said rescue operations were being carried on a war footing and people were being rescued.

In Muzaffarpur, Bagmati River inundated several areas. The situation was grim in Muzaffarpur town as Budhi Gandak River waters threatened embankments. Nine blocks of Madhubani were submerged after gushing waters of Kamla Balan breached embankments in Nunuar and Rakhwari villages. At least, 40,000 people were left marooned. In Darbhanga, floodwaters damaged embankments at four places in Jainagar block. Thousands of villagers of three blocks of the district, including Alinagar, Birol, and Ghanshyampur, were marooned.

Chief minister Nitish Kumar conducted an aerial survey of the areas and demanded rescue and relief operations on a “war footing”. Disaster management department’s principal secretary, Pratyay Amrit, said over 100 relief camps and community kitchens were set up in flood-hit areas. State Congress chief Madan Mohan Jha blamed the government for the situation.