Patna, Sep 11 (IANS) More than 300,000 people have been affected by flash floods caused due to heavy rains in drought-hit districts of Bihar, an official said Friday.
Thousands of people in over 100 villages in Gaya, Nalanda, Jehanabad and Nawada districts were rendered homeless and are struggling to survive on roads and other high places. The areas, drought-hit just over a month ago, have been witnessing heavy rains for the past one week.

Bihar’s Minister for Disaster Management Devesh Chandra Thakur admitted that flash floods hit thousands of people in the erstwhile drought-affected areas.

“The flood situation is grim in the drought-affected districts because of rising river waters following heavy rains,” Thakur told IANS.

After flood waters forced villagers to flee their homes under Dhanrua block in Patna district, hundreds of people have turned the Masaurih-Patna road into a temporary shelter for the last two days.

“They staged protest demanding relief and also called for rescue operations,” a local activist Dinesh choudhary said.

“The flood situation is really bad in several villages in rural Patna, Jehanabad, Nalanda and Gaya,” an official of the flood control cell said.

Magadh Commissioner Sanjeev Kumar Sinha said flash floods have inundated villages in Gaya, Jehanabad, Nalanda and Aurangabad districts. Those suffering from drought are now struggling to get rid of floodwaters.

Gaya, Nalanda, Nawada and Jehanabad are four of the 26 districts that were declared drought-hit by the state government in June and July due to scanty rainfall that had also hit paddy seedling transplantation.

Now dozens of villages in Jehanabad are inundated with floodwaters and road links have been snapped due to the heavy rains in the last three days.

The Falgu river, which is usually almost dry, is flowing above the danger mark due to the downpour in Gaya and Jehanabad. Similarly, the Morhar river in Gaya and Jirain river in Nalanda are also flowing above the danger mark.

Bihar has a 21 percent rainfall deficit so far this monsoon. But till the first week of August, the rainfall deficit recorded was 42 percent.