Rains, swollen rivers wreak havoc in north Bihar

Incessant rains in bordering areas and swollen rivers originating from Nepal have compounded miseries of those residing in far-off villages and outskirts of towns in north Bihar on Sunday

Incessant rains in bordering areas and swollen rivers originating from Nepal have compounded miseries of those residing in far-off villages and outskirts of towns in north Bihar on Sunday.

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While all major rivers, including Gandak, Burhi Gandak, Bagmati, Kosi, are in full spate and jumping danger levels (DL) by over one to three metres at different stretches, road connectivity to dozens of villages in West and East Champaran has been snapped following rising floodwater level.

Floodwaters entered over a dozen villages of Narkatiaganj block of West Champaran after Sikharna river, a tributary of Burhi Gandak, breached a zamindari bund near Sikta. Flow of traffic on Narkatiaganj and Bettiah has been disrupted after floodwaters overtopped it near Chanpatia. Kartaha river is wreaking havoc in the same block, inundating standing crops on thousands of hectares of land. Dozens of villages in Mainatand block have been disconnected from Narkatiaganj subdivisional headquarter after a bridge on Kartaha river caved in due to gushing water in the river.

Heavy rains coupled with floodwaters of other rivulets originating from Nepal have already left tens of thousands of villagers of Bettiah’s Sonbarsa block, forcing residents to relocated to safer places.

Meanwhile, flood situation in Samastipur remained grim as Burhi Gandak was reportedly flowing nearly three metres above the DL at Rosera. Gandak, Bagmati and Kosi were flowing around one metre above the DL at Dumarighat in Gopalganj, Benibad in Muzaffarpur and Baltara in Khagaria, respectively. Adhwara and Burhi Gandak are also flowing over one metre above the DL at Ekmighat in Darbhanga and Sikandarpur in Muzaffarpur, respectively.

Officials of water resources department (WRD) said all embankments were safe and flood protection drive was on at all vulnerable portions of the bund on all major rivers. They said a minor breach in a zamindari embankment on Bagmati near Kothia village of Kewati block of Darbhanga had been repaired.