Patna, Aug. 13: Chief minister Nitish Kumar sought central government assistance after floodwaters snapped rail, road and telecommunication links across Bihar today, especially in the Seemanchal region comprising the north-eastern districts of Kishanganj, Purnea, Araria and Katihar.
At least three persons have died and four are missing in Kishanganj, the worst-hit district. Over 20,000 people have been evacuated from the four districts by the district administrations, the national disaster response force (NDRF) and the state disaster response force (SDRF), and shifted to safer places including relief camps.
East Champaran, West Champaran, Sheohar, Sitamarhi, Muzaffarpur, Darbhanga, Madhubani and Supaul districts have also been badly affected. Narkatiyaganj town in West Champaran and Raxaul town in East Champaran have been submerged under floodwaters from the Gandak and its tributaries. Large-scale evacuations have begun there.
Floodwaters entered Bagaha sub-divisional jail in West Champaran and prisoners were shifted and jail staff vacated the premises. Water has started seeping from at least 100 places in the embankment along the Kamala Balan river in Darbhanga district.
Floodwaters are flowing over railway tracks at many places in the state.
Nitish held an emergency meeting with energy minister Bijendra Prasad Yadav, water resources minister Rajiv Ranjan Singh, chief secretary Anjani Kumar Singh, home department principal secretary Amir Subhani, director-general of police P.K. Thakur and other senior officials.
"I have talked to the Prime Minister, the Union home minister and the defence minister," the chief minister said. "We have sought additional NDRF teams. Several rivers in the state are in spate after heavy rainfall in Nepal and several districts in the state over the last 24 hours. Water has spread all around and villages have been inundated. I have been keeping a tab on the situation since yesterday."
Nitish asked for 10 additional teams of the NDRF, air force helicopters and army columns for rescue and relief, it is learnt, and the Centre has assured him of all help.
Four NDRF teams reached Chunapur air force base in Purnea from Bhubaneswar this afternoon, and more teams are on their way. An air force helicopter was dispatched from the Gorakhpur air force station to Purnea for rescue operations in Seemanchal. Army columns from Danapur and Ranchi were moved to Purnea, and 20 navy teams at the headquarters, Eastern Naval Command, have been brought to short notice for deployment.
Nitish has directed ministers and principal secretaries in-charge of the districts concerned to rush there to monitor rescue and relief. Heavy rains were shifting from eastern Nepal to central and western Nepal, Nitish said, pointing out that it would lead to rise in the level of the Gandak and endanger western Bihar districts. Similarly, floodwaters from Kishanganj and Purnea are expected to flow down to Katihar.
Anjani cited very heavy rainfall in catchments of the Mahananda, the Kankai and other rivers in Nepal and also 25cm rainfall in Kishanganj daily for the last two days. "The flood situation in Kishanganj and other neighbouring districts is unprecedented," he said. "It has rained so much in Kishanganj that if it's spread evenly on ground it will attain a height of a little less than 2 feet."
Continuous rain and high velocity winds have rendered it difficult to deploy smaller boats for rescue operations, he said, hence the NDRF's special rescue boats were needed.
"The challenge right now is to move people to safer places, protect their property, arrange food for them and take care of their health. Water entered 60 flood relief camps in Kishanganj," he said. "The only silver lining is that the India Meteorological Department (IMD) has forecast that the intensity of rainfall in Seemanchal and adjoining areas in Nepal will go down slowly."
Disaster management department principal secretary Pratyaya Amrit said the air force helicopter was pressed to rescue around 200 people at Kadamkari village in Baisa block of Purnea district who were trapped due to swift current that made it impossible to evacuate them on boats. Asked if preparations were not up to the mark given that floods have been Bihar's bane for long, officials said incessant heavy rain in Bihar and Nepal threw the situation out of whack.
Nitish will conduct an aerial survey of all flood-hit regions tomorrow.
Kishanganj district magistrate Pankaj Dikshit told The Telegraph that water discharged from the Teesta barrage in Bengal had flooded the district. "Heavy discharge of up to 50,000 cusecs was made from the Teesta barrage since Friday. We were keeping a tab on discharge every two hours, which helped us in rescuing people," he added.
The IMD has issued a warning of extremely heavy rainfall in 25 of Bihar's 38 districts till tomorrow. Heavy rains are expected to continue across the state till August 16.
