Bihar flood toll rises to 159, CM Nitish reviews relief work

There was no let up in floods in Bihar, where the toll rose to 159 today with three more deaths reported from Khagaria.

Stating this, a Disaster Management Department official said the flood has been caused by a spate in rivers Ganga, Sone, Punpun, Burhi Gandak, Ghaghra, Kosi and others and has affected 37.74 lakh people in 2,029 villages under 576 panchayats of 74 blocks of 12 districts in the state.

Ganga, though showing either a receding or steady trend in several places, is flowing above the danger mark at Digha Ghat, Gandhi Ghat, Hathidah in Patna, Bhagalpur and Kahalgaon in Bhagalpur district and in Munger and Buxar districts.

A total 7.06 lakh people have been evacuated so far from the affected districts of Buxar, Bhojpur, Patna, Vaishali, Saran, Begusarai, Samastipur, Lakhisarai, Khagaria, Munger, Bhagalpur and Katihar, it said.

The government is plying 2,787 boats for evacuation and national and state disaster response forces have already been deployed in the affected districts.

A total of 631 relief camps are being run in the flood-hit areas in which 3.92 lakh people have taken shelter. They are being provided medical services by 391 teams.

Chief Minister Nitish Kumar inspected the relief camps in Katihar during the day.

He later held a meeting with officials at Chunapur airport in Purnea and gave necessary directions in this regard, an official release said.