Flood in Bihar: High level declared! Schools closed, rivers rising, emergency measures introduced – everything you need to know

Bihar Flood: After water was released from barrages in Valmikinagar and Birpur on Saturday, the Bihar government sounded a flood alert, a senior official told PTI. As many as 13.5 million people in 13 counties were seriously affected by the flood.

Rivers in north and central Bihar have overflowed after heavy rains lashed the catchment area in the last three days. As seen in the visuals, authorities issued the highest alert after several areas were flooded.

District authorities and the Water Resources Department (WRD) have called for emergency control measures and are monitoring the embankments around the clock. As a precautionary measure, vehicular traffic has been stopped near Kosi Dam. The rescue team includes three supervising engineers, 17 executive engineers, 25 assistant engineers and 45 junior WRD engineers.

According to a PTI report, the rivers flowing above the danger mark include Gandak, Kosi, Bagmati, Burhi Gandak, Kamla Balan and Mahananda and Ganga, which have caused a flood-like situation in 31 blocks of eight districts of North Bihar. Living Hindustan. In East Champaran, all schools have been announced to be closed until September 29 due to the possibility of heavy rains.

Principal Secretary, State Water Resources Department, Santosh Kumar Mall pointed out that a total of 5.79 lakh cusecs of water was released from the Birpur barrage on the Kosi river till 7 p.m. on Saturday. This is the highest water discharge from this barrage in 56 years, starting in 1969.

To make matters worse, 5.38 lakh cusecs of water had leaked from the Valmikinagar dam by 7 pm on Saturday. This is the highest outflow of water from this barrage in 21 years, starting in 2004.

Floods in Nepal

The state Water Resources Department (WRD) in a statement said, “Due to heavy rains in Nepal, water discharge in rivers like Gandak, Koshi, Mahananda etc. increased significantly on Saturday.”

Santosh Kumar Trade Center suggested that incessant rainfall in Nepal’s catchment areas has resulted in rivers meeting or exceeding the danger level at several places in border districts. According to officials, excess river water flooded low-lying areas, including western and eastern Champaran, Gopalganj, Araria, Supaul, Katihar, Purnea and several other districts.

According to reports, Nepal released 5.40 lakh cusecs of water in the Gandak dam on Saturday by 7 p.m. At the same time, 4.99 lakh cusecs of water leaked into the Kosi barrage. According to an AIRN report, all 56 locks at the Kosi barrage in Supaul were opened to relieve the pressure.

Visuals from Bihar show water flooding railway tracks in Araria district after heavy rains affecting train movements.