PATNA
Heavy downpour in the foothills of Himalayas in Nepal has aggravated fears of flooding in north Bihar regions with the onset of Monsoon.
While Sikharna river in west Bihar is wreaking havoc in parts of the West and East Champaran, rising level of Gandak across its stretch from West Champaran to Gopalganj has compounded the miseries of those living near its embankments.
The Gandak river has crossed the danger level (DL) at Dumariaghat in Gopalganj by over 1.50 metre, even as it’s approaching near DL at Chatia (East Champaran) and Rewaghat (Muzaffarpur).
Dozens of villages in the two Champaran districts have been flooded by the swollen Sikharna river, which does not have any embankments in the initial 50km.
Water resources department (WRD) secretary Sanjiv Hans said all embankments were safe and monitoring had been heightened to avert any mishap. “A junior engineer has been deployed every 10 km of the embankment with 10 volunteers on each kilometre to keep constant vigil,” he said.
WRD officials hoped the situation would ease in days as the discharge in Gandak and other rivers originating from Nepal had been maintaining a falling trend over the past 24 hours. “The discharge in Gandak at Valmikinagar barrage has come down to 1.58 lakh cusecs on Friday morning, as compared to 4.12 lakh cusec recorded on June 16,” said Hans.
The WRD secretary said that the department had already advised the people living in low-lying areas or those within the embankments of different rivers to relocate to safer places owing to heavy rains in their catchment areas. “We have also increased vigil on Ghaghra river, whose catchment in Uttar Pradesh received heavy showers in the past 24 hours. Situation is, however, under control in Siwan, where the river’s upper stream is nearly one metre down the DL,” said Hans.
{{/usCountry}}The WRD secretary said that the department had already advised the people living in low-lying areas or those within the embankments of different rivers to relocate to safer places owing to heavy rains in their catchment areas. “We have also increased vigil on Ghaghra river, whose catchment in Uttar Pradesh received heavy showers in the past 24 hours. Situation is, however, under control in Siwan, where the river’s upper stream is nearly one metre down the DL,” said Hans.
{{/usCountry}}Residents claimed that Sikharna river, which is known by Burhi Gandak downstream, flooded over 100 villages of around two dozen blocks of Narkatiganj and Bagha by Friday afternoon. “People are moving to safer places along with essential belongings in a large numbers, after the floodwaters entered their houses,” said Ravi Mahato of Pipra village.
Kosi river was reported flowing near one metre down the DL at Basua in Supaul and Kamla was 30 cm below the danger mark at Jainagar in Madhubani. Officials said flooding in northern parts of Bihar was mainly because of small streams that flow down unprotected from Nepal.