Muzaffarpur villages flooded as swollen rivers drain out water in low-lying areas
After rendering thousands of people homeless due to floods in twin districts of East and West Champaran, swollen rivers of Gandak, Burhi Gandak and Bagmati are now posing serious threat of inundating a vast stretch of land in Muzaffarpur district, officials said on Friday
After rendering thousands of people homeless due to floods in twin districts of East and West Champaran, swollen rivers of Gandak, Burhi Gandak and Bagmati are now posing serious threat of inundating a vast stretch of land in Muzaffarpur district, officials said on Friday.
Muzaffarpur faced flood fury due to draining of the three rivers—Gandak, Burhi Gandak and Bagmati—in western, central and eastern parts of the district, director of Central Water Commission (CWC) Sharad Chandra said.
Officials said hundreds of villages of four blocks of the districts have been hit by floods. Thousands of people, along with their cattle, have been forced to take temporary shelters on highways, as their homes got submerged under floodwaters from the three rivers.
Heavy downpour in the catchment areas of different rivers in Nepal and in Bihar in the past 24 hours had led to considerable rise in water levels at different sections of their course. Many rivers originating from Himalayan regions, including Gandak, Lal Bakeya, Kamla, Adhwara and Khiroi, have jumped the danger levels (DL) and are exerting tremendous pressure on their embankments.
Dozens of villages of three panchayats of West Champaran like Bagahi, Sakhuani and Manchnagwa, have been cut off from the rest of state after gushing currents of rain-fed rivers engulfed and damaged the roads network around.
Situation in areas crisscrossed by Gandak and Kosi rivers might worsen in the next few days, as massive quantum of water was released from Nepal side through Valmikinagar and Birpur barrages in the past 12 hours, officials of water resources department (WRD) said. “About 2.15 lakh cusec water was being released in Gandak from Valmikinagar barrage around 4pm and 1.54 lakh cusec in Kosi from Birpur barrage, which is alarming in early July,” they said.
“We are keeping close watch on all embankments with help of volunteers. All embankments are so far safe. However, dozens of villages in Panapur block of Saran got flooded on Friday after some miscreants cut open Rasauli zamindari bund on Dhanauti Nala, a tributary to Gandak, to fill up a nearby wetland with water,” said an executive engineer of WRD, adding that flood protection materials were being rushed to the site to plug the breach.
River Ganga is, however, flowing below danger levels in its stretch throughout the state, officials said.
