Patna: Major flood-bringing rivers such as Bagmati, Kamla Balan, Kosi, Budhi Gandak and Mahananda were flowing above the danger mark on Tuesday, increasing the threat of inundation in the districts.
As if the Ganga flowing above the danger mark between Patna and Katihar wasn't enough, water discharge from Birpur barrage over Kosi and Valmikinagar barrage over Gandak was showing a rising trend.
The discharge from Birpur barrage was hovering around 1.3 lakh cusec, while it was 1.7 lakh cusec at Valmikinagar, leading to an increase in the water levels of the rivers concerned.
The discharge from Indrapuri barrage on Sone was still over 2 lakh cusec. One cusec or cubic feet per second is around 28.32 litres of water per second.
However, water resources department officials asserted there was no serious threat of flood in Bihar right now as discharge in the rivers was below the maximum capacity.
"There has been no breach in any of the embankments along the rivers. No water has topped the embankments, nor any relief have been distributed among the people. So there are no floods in the state. However, if it rains for three to four days in Nepal the situation could turn serious," water resources department engineer-in-chief (flood control and water drainage) Rajesh Kumar told The Telegraph.
Rajesh added that water resources department engineers were on alert and were stationed on embankments round-the-clock to keep vigil. Lakhs of sandbags and other flood-fighting materials were stored along the embankments for emergency.
Water from the Ganga spilled over to areas in Mahnar block in Vaishali as its level registered a slight increase.
Alert and vigil were being maintained in Mohiuddinagar in Samastipur.
Panapur, Haldi Chhapra, Kasim Chak, Bind Toli and Maner in Patna district were under water.
Twelve boats provided by the administration were taking care of the needs for supplies and commutation of the people residing at these places.
A senior disaster management department official said his men were ready with relief material in case floods hit larger areas.
"The low-lying areas or diara (riverine) areas along the major rivers are flooded. These areas remain inundated almost every year. People live there and are accustomed to it. We will consider it to be floods if water from rivers reach higher areas. We are keeping our fingers crossed and teams of National Disaster Response Force and State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) are ready," the disaster management department official said.
