Patna, Aug 11 (PTI) More than 17 lakh people have been affected by floods in Bihar, where several rivers are in spate due to torrential rainfall in the past 24 hours, officials said on Monday.
A total of 32 teams of the NDRF and the SDRF have been engaged in rescue operations, they said.
“Incessant rain in various districts, including Bhojpur, Patna, Bhagalpur, Vaishali, Lakhisarai, Saran, Munger, Khagaria, Supaul and Begusarai caused rivers and streams to overflow… Besides, heavy rainfall in catchment areas of Nepal has also led to rivers flowing above the danger level at several places,” an official said.
“Rains in the past few days have raised the water level of the Ganga, Kosi, Bagmati, Burhi Gandak, Punpun and Ghaghara rivers. These are flowing above the danger mark at certain places in Bhojpur, Patna, Bhagalpur, Vaishali, Lakhisarai, Saran, Munger, Khagaria and Begusarai and Supaul,” the Disaster Management Department said in a statement.
The department said 17,62,374 people in 1,144 villages of 10 districts are currently affected by floods in the state. Around 1,160 boats have been put to use in the rescue work in the affected areas.
No deaths have been reported so far from any part of Bihar, it said.
“In view of the continuous rise in the water levels of several rivers in Bihar and heavy rainfall in the catchment areas of Nepal-based Gandak and Kosi rivers, all concerned wings of the Water Resources Department (WRD) have been instructed to stay on alert mode,” Principal Secretary, WRD, Santosh Kumar Mall, told PTI.
Directions have also been issued to the districts concerned to remain fully prepared for setting up more relief camps and community kitchens if the situation aggravates further, he said.
Altogether 4,16,801 people in 343 villages in Bhagalpur district were affected by the floods, 3,15,596 people in 187 villages in Begusarai, 2,55,926 people in 168 villages in Bhojpur, 2,50,700 people in 218 villages in Munger, 2,28,000 people in 76 villages in Vaishali, 1,40,373 people in 62 villages in Khagaria, 1,00,858 people in 78 villages in Patna and 42,170 people in Saran district, the statement said.
Despite continuous rainfall, Bihar recorded 507.4 mm precipitation from August 1-10, which is 12 per cent less than the normal for this time of the year, it added.
(This report has been published as part of the auto-generated syndicate wire feed. Apart from the headline, no editing has been done in the copy by ABP Live.)
