Bihar flood
there is waterlogging in many areas,” Bihar’s additional secretary in the disaster relief department Amod Kumar Sharan said. The National Disaster Relief Authority said it had deployed 19 teams in 14 districts of Bihar.
“More than 200 rescuers with 36 rescue boats are engaged to evacuate the people to safer places. Today more than 4,000 affected people have been evacuated t hat includes women, patients, children and elderly and shifted to the safer places by NDRF in Patna. The operations continue in Bihar,” a statement by the NDRF said.
India’s summer monsoon, which accounts for almost 75% of the country’s annual rainfall, begins in June and starts to retreat by early September, but heavy to very heavy rainfall has continued across parts of the country this year, triggering floods in many low-lying areas.
The Union government said it had extended all assistance to the state. “We are with the Bihar government and people of the state. The Centre will work along with the state government and do everything possible to help the flood-affected in the state and in Patna,” said Union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad.
In Patna, large parts of the city were marooned with residents resorting to unusual modes of transportation in order to move from one place to another. “We are forced to commute via Patna Municipal Corporation’s JCB as there are no other means to travel from one place to another on these immensely waterlogged roads,” said a resident who was standing alongside a large group of locals standing on the loader of a JCB machine to reach from one place to another.
“We are rescuing people from several flood-affected areas here. We are trying to help the stranded senior-citizens and patients by extending help,” said the JCB driver.
I n Uttar Pradesh, all 868 inmates of the waterlogged district jail in Ballia were shifted to two jails, district magistrate Bhavani Singh Khangaraut said, adding that 500 inmates were shifted to Azamgarh district jail and 368 to Siddharath Nagar district jail.
In UP, state relief commissioner GS Priyadarshi said 294 houses were damaged due to excessive rain. Several residential buildings in the vicinity of the Triveni Sangam were partially submerged due to rise in the water level of river Ganga and Yamuna. “Although the floodwaters have started to recede, there are almost 20-25 houses which remain disconnected to the mainland area”, said a local resident of Prayagraj, Chunnilal Panday.