Floods hit rail, road traffic in many north Bihar districts

MOTIHARI/SAMASTIPUR/BAGAHA: The flood situation in north Bihar remained grim on Sunday. Rivers Gandak, Burhi Gandak and half a dozen hilly rivers inundated more than 130 villages and affected over 2,72,000 population in East Champaran.
Floodwaters entered the low-lying areas of Kumaridewi, Hanumangarhi, Kolhuarawa, Agarwa, Chanmari, Bazar Samiti, Raza Bazar, Bariarpur Khusabunagar, Mathiya Zirat and Belbanwa in Motihari town after Raxaul and Sugauli in the district.Traffic on Dumariya NH28 remained disrupted on the second day as the approach slab of the bridge was being repaired. The embankment of Gandak river breached at Bhawanipur was being repaired.
Train services were stopped on Muzaffarpur-Narkatiyaganj section as floodwaters were flowing over rail bridge 248 between Sagauli and Majhauliya stations. Station superintendent of Sagauli, Deelip Kumar, said floodwaters were flowing on Sagauli rail tracks. The surging water also topped NH28A (Piprakothi-Raxaul road) at Bangara near Chhapawa and Ramgarhwa. Although traffic has not disrupted till now.
DM Shirshat Kapil Ashok visited Bangara and asked the engineers to be vigilant. According to police sources, a loaded pickup washed away in the water current on Lakhaura-Motihari road on Sunday, but the driver was rescued by the locals.
The Burhi Gandak water entered the Neem Gali Ghat area in Samastipur town. The routes of 12 trains, including Jayanagar-Amritsar, Darbhanga-New Delhi, Darbhanga-Mumbai and New Delhi-Darbhanga were diverted from Darbhanga to Muzaffarpur via Sitamarhi.
The Bagmati water entered Namapur, Kalaujar, Belsandi, Terra, Kurhba, Barheta, Kharsand paschmi panchayats. Thousands of people have taken shelter on upper areas.
The Sitamarhi-Sursand, Sitamarhi-Parihar, Sitamarhi-Sheohar, Lagma-Bhasepur and Singrahia-Baduri road connectivity remained snapped. Sonbarsa block headquarters was partially inundated by river Jhim whereas Rato river was posing danger at Bittha Mor on India-Nepal border. River Lakhandei marooned several localities in Sitamarhi town.
Sitamarhi DM Abhilasha Kumari Sharma said there was no scarcity of essential commodities in the district. Sadar SDO Kumar Gaurav and SDPO Kumar Veer Dhirendra got the flood-affected people shifted from NH77 near Runnisaidpur to several school buildings.
But Sursand, Parihar, Dumra, Bajpatti, Choraut, Bokhara, Suppi, Riga, Belsand, Runnisaidpur, Bairgania and Bathanaha blocks were reeling from flood. Three community kitchens were being run in Sonbarsa and Parihar blocks.
Although Gandak river started receding at Valmikinagar, many villages of Jaralpur and Khutawani panchayats under Jogapatti block were under 1 to 3 feet water. Six wards of Sheorajpur Chharki panchayat, Mangalpur Kala, Bisambhar Pur of Bhawanipur panchayat were badly affected. A dozen panchayats of Majhaulia block in West Champaran were badly hit by the floods.
Mahanawa-Rampurwa panchayat mukhiya Adalat Ali said people could not carry ailing persons and pregnant women to hospital without boat. Road communication between Lauria and Ramnagar and Lauria and Narakatiyaganj remained disrupted. However, traffic on Ramnagar-Gobarahiya Don and Banakatawa Karamahiya panchayats was restored as villagers made a wooden bridge on the river near Champapur, said mukhiya Gaurishankar Prasad.
In Khagaria, Kosi, Bagmati and Ganga river waters entered 27 panchayats, affecting 70,630 population of the area. Fresh areas of Paura and Baltara panchayats were inundated. People of Longa village in Baltars panchayat were taking shelter on the embankment. Rohiyar, Sarsawa, Buchha, Thutthi and Mohanpur panchayats were badly affected.
DM Alok Ranjan Ghosh said the vulnerable points on the embankments where seepage had started were repaired. He, however, alerted the people in view of the rising trend of Ganga river.
Meanwhile, the Air Force chopper airdropped dry ration packets among flood-affected people of Hasanchak and Chamanpur villages under Singhwara block in Darbhanga district. Earlier, food packets were dropped in Kusheshwar Asthan east and Keoti blocks on Saturday. Altogether 34 community kitchens were functional in Bahadurpur block as 131 panchayats under 12 blocks of the district were flood-hit. NDRF team is engaged in relief and rescue operations as 272 boats were being run in the affected areas.
(With inputs from N P Thakur in Khagaria and B K Jha in Darbhanga)