Bihar floods affect more areas; no fresh casualties reported

More parts of Bihar were on Thursday affected by floods, caused by rise in water levels of rivers originating in Nepal, though disaster manment department asserted that this has resulted in fresh loss of lives.

According to departments bulletin, 71 panchayats of Madhubani and Siwan districts, which were t affected by floods till previous day, have w been hit by calamity.

number of affected districts so far has, thus, reached 14. number of people affected by deluge has risen to 39.63 lakh, up from 38.47 lakh on Wednesday. Death toll, however, remained stable at 11, with Darbhanga accounting for seven casualties and remaining four reported from West Champaran.

Or districts declared as flood-hit are East Champaran, Sheohar, Supaul, Kishanganj, Sitamarhi, Gopalganj, Saran, Muzaffarpur, Gopalganj and Khagaria. At a meeting he chaired on previous night to review flood situation, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar instructed officials to pull up ir socks reminding m "it is in months of August and September that we see worst of calamity".

"We must have arrangements in place for evacuating people from vulnerable areas. We are this time faced with a twin challenge in backdrop of raging corona pandemic. It must be ensured that those being kept at relief camps are tested for COVID-19 on a priority basis and social distancing is maintained as far as possible", he said.

Till date, 3.16 lakh people have been evacuated and moved to safe places by personnel involved in relief and rescue work, including 21 teams of NDRF. More than 25,000 people have taken shelter in 19 relief camps and close to six lakh people were being fed at more than 1,000 community kitchens. An embankment along Budhi Gandak river at Bairiya in East Champaran district was vandalized by unidentified villrs.

"An FIR has been lodged in connection with dam caused to embankment which has, however, resulted in loss to life and property. Our department is doing needful", water resources minister Sanjay Kumar Jha tweeted.

9th battalion of National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), stationed at Bihta near Patna, has rescued thousands of people ever since floods began wreaking havoc a couple of weeks ago.

"Our personnel have rescued close to 8,000 people, which include children, elderly and pregnant women. Our men have fanned out in 13 of affected districts," battalions commandant Vijay Sinha said. One of NDRF teams was Thursday diverted from West Champaran to Siwan upon disaster manment departments request, he added. He also informed that NDRF men saved life of a four-year-old boy in East Champaran district, who suffered a snake bite at his marooned vill.

"Our men reached vill late in night. boy, Adnan, was carried in a boat to nearest primary health center, wading through flood waters for a six kilometres long stretch. Thankfully, timely medical aid took him out of harms way", Sinha added.