Heavy rain in Nepal may pour misery on Bihar

It may not be raining heavily as anticipated by the Met department but the rivers in Bihar are rising constantly with many of them flowing above the danger mark. The reason—heavy rainfall in the upper catchment area of Nepal.

According to reports, as the water level of the Gandak, Budhi Gandak, Ghagra and Mahanadi has been constantly rising, around 2,74,000 cusecs of water was released in the last 24 hours from the Valmiki-Nagar Barrage on the Bihar-Nepal border.

Though unconfirmed reports suggested that gate No 31 of the barrage was damaged due to heavy discharge, Principal Secretary of Disaster Management, Vyas Ji, denied such reports. “I have spoken to principal secretary of water resources department. The situation is under control,” he said.

However, according to Central Water Commission, the Kosi is flowing 40 cm above danger mark and it could rise by another 20 cm by Saturday. Similarly, the Bagmati is flowing 162 cm above danger mark near Kataunjha in Muzaffarpur, while it has touched the danger mark at Lalganj in Vaishali.

“More than 70,000 people in Araria, Supaul, Darbhanga and Muzaffarpur have been affected due to the rising levels of Kosi, Gandak, Budhi Gandak and Bagmati rivers. The mighty Ganga is also showing a rising trend in Bhagalpur and Katihar,” said a senior official of the water resources department (WRD). “Taking lessons from the Kosi tragedy in 2008, we are keeping constant vigil on all the rivers, particularly those originating from Nepal. The Bihar government has cancelled leave of all the engineers till the flood period is over,” the official added.