Bihar: Floodwaters enter new areas, hit a million more people; 24.5 lakh affected in 11 dists

Floodwaters spread to new areas in the 11 affected districts of Bihar, hitting one million more population, even though no fresh death was reported and the toll remained at 10, the Disaster Management Department said on Monday.

The latest bulletin, said a total of 24.42 lakh people have been hit by floods in 765 panchayats of 93 blocks of 11 districts with Darbhanga being the worst-hit, where 8.87 lakh people have been displaced in its 14 blocks.

The Sunday bulletin had said the number of flood- hit population in Bihar was nearly 15 lakh in 11 districts.

Apart from Darbhanga, East Champaran and Muzaffarpur districts are badly affected where 7.0 lakh and 3.20 lakh people have been impacted, the bulletin said.

The air-dropping operation of food packets by Indian Air Force helicopters has been stopped from this evening in Gopalganj, Darbhanga and East Champaran districts.

The operation had started in these places on July 25. A senior officer of the Disaster Management department said the relief distribution through boats and other means would continue in these places as also in other marooned districts.

Each relief packet contains two-and-a-half kg of flattened rice, one kg gram, half kg jaggery, matchbox and a packet of candles which were being prepared at Sri Krishna Memorial Hall in the state capital.

People have been forced to leave their homes due to rampaging flood. The situation seems to be more or less same in every affected districts. A family in Kaharpur village of Naugachhia sub-division of Bhagalpur district was seen demolishing their home as Kosi river was about to take it in its stride.

Asked the reason for doing so, they said that several houses have been washed away in the Kosi water and his house will also be taken away in a few hours so he is removing bricks to use them for another house once the situation improves. In Shormar village of Samastipur where floodwaters have submerged everything, one of the affected people said a vast area has been flooded. Even the school has been badly affected. He said that people don’t have water to drink.

It seems that people will have to drink the floodwater after boiling them, he said, adding no help from the administration has reached to them so far.

In Baliadangi village of Kishanganj district, people have been surrounded by floodwaters ad there is no means to get them out of the place. The total number of casualties stood at 10 in districts with no fresh fatality reported on Monday, the bulletin said.

The flood affected districts are Sitamarhi, Sheohar, Supaul, Kishanganj, Darbhanga, Muzaffarpur, Gopalganj, West Champaran, East Champaran, Khagaria and Saran. Seventeen teams of the NDRF and eight of the SDRF are involved in the rescue operations as part of which 1.67 people have been evacuated from the affected areas so far, the bulletin said.

Besides, 12,858 people are staying in 29 relief camps while nearly 3.28 lakh people were being fed at 703 community kitchens.

National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) Commandant Vijay Sinha said his personnel have so far evacuated 6600 affected people and cattle to safer places in Gopalganj, Saran, East Champaran, West Champaran, Darbhanga and Supaul.

Besides, the NDRF has also been helping the district administration in distributing relief materials, Sinha said, adding teams have helped medical personnel reach affected rural areas.

The flood relief work has been quite a challenge this year in view of the raging COVID-19 pandemic, he said.

Several rivers such as Baghmati, Burhi Gandak, Kamlabalan, Lalbakeya, Adhwara, Khiroi, and Ghaghra are flowing above danger level while the water level of Ganga is increasing at Hathidah, Munger, Bhagalpur, and Kahalgaon. Though the level has gone down at Gandhi ghat in Patna, it has remained steady at Buxar and Digha in Patna, a Water Resources Departments bulletin said.

Meanwhile, Chief Public Relation Officer (CPRO), of East Central Railway zone, Rajesh Kumar, said some trains in the Darbhanga-Samastipur section has been diverted due to floodwaters coming up to the girder of Railway bridge in between south Hayaghat and Thalwara.