A sudden discharge of 11.67 lakh cusecs (cubic foot per second) of water into Sone river from Indrapuri barrage in Rohtas district triggered one of the worst floods in Patna since 1975 and also affected ten other districts of Bihar that are situated on the banks of river Ganga, killing 13 people, authorities from the state said. The Sone river is a right bank tributary of river Ganga and the two meet in Maner, Patna district. Along with Patna, Bhagalpur, Buxar, Vaishali, Samastipur, Khagaria, Bhojpur, Begusarai, Lakhi Sarai, Munger and Katihar districts were affected. Nine deaths were reported from Bhojpur, while two each were reported from Bhagalpur and Vaishali, the state disaster management authority said.
The enormous discharge of water in Bihar marooned nearly 50,000 people in Patna alone and 10,000 had to rescued as water from Ganga rose above the danger mark and entered homes, residential colonies and buildings situated on the riverbank. Early on Sunday morning, the Ganga was flowng at Dighaghat in Patna at 52.12 m while the Sone was flowing at 53.7 m in Maner. Besides Sone and Ganga, Burhi Gandak and Kosi are in spate at Khagaria and Balsara and Kulsera respectively, officials said
Officials from the Bihar disaster management authority said that water had to be released from Indrapuri barrage as Madhya Pradesh opened the gates of Bansagar Dam while Uttar Pradesh discharged excess water from Rihand dam, following incessant rains. The hevay rainfall in MP killed 7 people while in Uttar Pradesh, 11 were killed as mud houses collapsed after heavy rainfall and floods have affected people in 23 districts.
"Water had to be discharged from the Indrapuri barrage and that caused a spate in Sone and Ganga. This is certainly a situation that has not been seen in a long time. We have alerted the Army and Air Force to be on standby and will use their help if the situation worsens," said Vyasji, principal secretary, disaster management department, Bihar.
As of now, five teams of National Disaster Response Force and six teams of State Disaster Response Force have been deployed. The state has also put 1,000 country boats into action to add to the inflatable boats used by NDRF and SDRF.
NDRF has been deployed
National and State Disaster Response Force have already been deployed in the affected districts, Kumar said and added that apart from taking help of big boats meant to ferry sand to evacuate people and animals, the government has made all preparations to airlift the people if needed. Besides, Army has been put on alert to help the people out from the flood affected areas, Chief minister Nitish Kumar added. "We want to assure the people that we are alert... People should not get panicky and should tackle the situation bravely," Nitish said adding that government is taking every necessary step to provide relief to the people as "victims of disaster have the first right on state's coffers."
Ganga crosses danger mark in UP
Lucknow: A swollen Ganga was flowing above the danger mark in Uttar Pradesh while Yamuna too was flowing above red mark in the state. According to Centre Water Commission (CWC), Ganga is flowing above danger mark at Fafamau (Allahabad), Mirzapur, Varanasi, Ghazipur and Ballia while Yamuna is flowing above the red mark at Chillaghat (Banda) and Naini (Allahabad) and Mohna (Jalaun). Similarly, Sharda river is flowing above the danger mark at Palliakalan (Kheri). However, in eastern UP the weather was dry even as light to moderate rains occurred at isolated places. According to the MET office, chief amount of rainfall recorded was - Saharanpur -5 cm, Moradabad ans DEOBAND - 2cm each, Meerut and Thakurdwara - 1cm each. Rain or thunder shower are expected at isolated places over eastern UP.
Fifty families affected by land sinking in Aizawl
At least 50 families were on Sunday affected due to sinking of land following rain in Hunthar locality here, Disaster Management and Rehabilitation Director C Lalpeksanga said on Sunday. Many displaced families were living with relatives, while temporary accommodations were made for others in government buildings, Lalpeksanga said. Sinking of land occurred after downpour in the city for several days which also severely affected the road linking the lone Lengpui Airport, he said. Experts from the Geological Survey of India (GSI) in Shillong would be arriving in Aizawl on Monday to conduct a detailed study of the area, he said. In another incident, two houses collapsed in a landslide at Kepran n Aizawl district on Friday.
