Bihar flood situation deteriorates; over 77 lakh affected

The flood situation in Bihar worsened on Wednesday as over 2.16 lakh more people were affected by the calamity, taking the total number of victims to 77,18,788 in 16 districts, a Disaster Management Department bulletin said.

Flood waters entered fresh areas and the number of affected panchayats increased to 1,271 from Tuesday's 1,260, though that of the flood-hit districts remained at 16.

The number of people who died in flood related incidents in the state remained at 24, the bulletin said.Of the 2.16 lakh newly affected people, 1.35 lakh are from Muzaffarpur district and 56,000 from Darbhanga.

The number of people hit by the deluge increased to 20.58 lakh in Darbhanga, 15.66 lakh in Muzaffarpur and 10.19 lakh in East Champaran.

The bulletin said that 20 teams of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and 13 of the SDRF have evacuated 5.47 lakh people from inundated areas so far.

The administration has been running seven relief centres in Samastipur, Darbhanga and Khagaria districts, where 12,479 people have taken shelter, while nearly 8.90 lakh people were fed at 1,121 community kitchens in the affected districts, the bulletin said.

The state government has transferred Rs 403 crore into the bank accounts of 6.72 lakh flood affected families so far, Information and Public Relations Department Secretary Anupam Kumar said.

Each flood-hit family has got Rs 6,000 as gratuitous relief, he said. Those who are yet to get the amount will be given it very soon, Kumar said.

Several rivers such as the Baghmati, Burhi Gandak, Kamlabalan and the Khiroi are flowing above the danger level at several places in the state while the water level of the Ganga is flowing below it, a bulletin issued by the Water Resources Department said. All the embankments under the department are safe, it said.

The Met office at Patna has forecast light to moderate rain in the catchment areas of all rivers flowing in the state on Thursday while heavy rain is likely at a few places in the catchment areas of the Gandak.

The 16-flood affected districts are Sitamarhi, Sheohar, Supaul, Kishanganj, Darbhanga, Muzaffarpur, Gopalganj, West Champaran, East Champaran, Khagaria, Saran, Samastipur, Siwan, Madhubani, Madhepura and Saharsa.

(Photo credit for representation: PTI)