Flood situation worsens in Bihar
September 26th, 2011 - 3:30 pm ICT by IANSPatna, Sep 26 (IANS) The flood situation in Bihar worsened Monday with hundreds of villages inundated and thousands marooned after heavy donwpour pushed up the levels of the Ganges and Sone rivers.
The situation was compounded following the sudden release of nearly 10 lakh cusecs of water from the Bansagar reservoir in Madhya Pradesh and the Rihand dam in Uttar Pradesh.
In view of the alarming situation in some areas, the Bihar government deployed teams of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) to rescue the marooned villagers.
The state disaster management department has asked people living in low-lying areas to move to higher ground, its principal secretary Vayas Ji said.
The department said over five lakh people in a dozen districts have been affected by the floods. Thousands were marooned.
Hundreds fled their homes after their villages came under a sea of water in Rohtas, Aurangabad, Arwal, Patna, Bhojpur, Saran snf, Vaishali districts, an official said.
The government has cancelled the leave of all engineers of the water resources department till Oct 15 and postponed the state level meeting of chief engineers scheduled Sep 29-30 to Oct 15-16.
Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has asked district authorities to be on high alert.
The Patna and Ara canals of the Sone river have been closed as a precaution.
The water resources department said the sudden discharge of water in the Sone from Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh was the largest since 1975.
Bihar Water Resources Minister Vijay Kumar Choudhary said the state government has lodged a strong protest with both the states.
According to the central water commission, all major rivers in Bihar were flowing above the danger mark.
This is second time in 20 days when a sudden rise in water levels of the Ganges and Sone has created havoc.
- Flood situation grim in Bihar - Sep 27, 2011
- Heavy rains spark fresh flood fears in Bihar - Sep 25, 2011
- Flood alert in nine districts in Bihar - Sep 11, 2011
- Flood situation remains grim in Bihar - Sep 13, 2011
- Floods render thousands homeless in Bihar - Aug 21, 2011
- Flood waters enter over 1,000 Bihar villages - Aug 20, 2011
- Disaster control teams deployed in flood-hit Bihar - Aug 19, 2011
- 1.5 million affected in Bihar floods - Aug 22, 2011
- Bihar flood situation grim as all rivers rise - Jul 07, 2011
- Bihar cop fires on protesting flood victims, suspended - Aug 26, 2011
- Bihar floods worsen, over 100 villages inundated - Jul 04, 2011
- Ganges should be saved: Bansal - May 12, 2012
- Fear of floods back in Bihar - Jul 01, 2011
- Thousands flee as Gandak breaches embankments (Lead) - Sep 16, 2010
- Over half a million hit by Bihar floods - Jul 06, 2011
Tags: alarming situation, bhojpur, bihar government, central water, chief engineers, cusecs, danger mark, disaster management, disaster response, district authorities, flood situation, national disaster, principal secretary, response force, sone river, state disaster, sudden discharge, vijay kumar, water commission, water resources department