Over 87,000 more hit as flood scene remains grim in Bihar

PATNA: There was no respite from floods in the 16 north Bihar districts on Sunday. Over 74,19,802 people have so far been affected by the floods, an increase of 87,500 when compared to Saturday’s figure. Altogether 23 people have died in the floods in the state so far.
The IMD forecast for rainfall with thunderstorm at many places and increase in the intensity of rainfall over the next two days is a matter of concern as Bagmati and Adwara group of rivers were still flowing above the danger level at most places in Sitamarhi, Darbhanga, Madhubani, Muzaffarpur and Samastipur.
Similarly, Kosi river was above the danger mark in Saharsa, Bhagalpur and Katihar and Kamala in Madhubani and Darbhanga. However, the Mahananda in Purnea and Katihar and the Ganga at most of the flood gauges, except in Kahalgaon, were below the danger mark.
Light to very heavy rainfall occurred at some places in Bihar during the past 24 hours. The monsoon trough at mean sea level was passing through Firozpur, Delhi, Fursatganj, Ambikapur and southeast to the centre of low pressure area over the northwest Bay of Bengal off north Odisha-Gangetic West Bengal coasts.
Meanwhile, the campus of the world’s tallest Buddha Stupa at Kesariya in East Champaran district was still under chest-deep water. On Saturday, 50 metres of the boundary wall on its south-east side collapsed. The boundary wall was constructed in 2019.
Founder member of Kesariya Buddha Mahotsav, Dr P Ojha, said the prolonged waterlogging would damage the stupa.
State art, culture and youth department minister Pramod Kumar said he had informed the Archaeological Survey of India officials at Patna.
The 17 blocks of East Champaran were still under the floodwaters. Although the Burhi Gandak, Lalbakeya and Gandak were showing a falling trend, lives of more than 8 lakh people remained miserable in the district.
Khagaria DM Alok Ranjan Ghosh said the portion of the embankment damaged due to erosion by Burhi Gandak river near Chandpura under Ganagaur police station has been plugged.
Private country boats were being used for ferrying passengers and goods as the road link was disrupted following overtopping of floodwaters at several points in the district.
The district administration said 1,06,270 people under 39 panchayats were hit by the floods.
(With inputs from C B Pandey in Motihari and N P Thakur in Khagaria)