Flood alert sounded in Bihar (Hindu 27 September 2011)

Making merry: Children playing in the water-logged Gandhi Maidan after heavy rain that lashed Patna on Monday. Photo: Ranjeet Kumar
An alert was sounded on Monday as the overall flood situation in Bihar worsened following heavy rain in the catchment areas of the rivers and the discharge of water from two dams in Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh.
Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has directed the State Water Resources and Disaster Management departments to be on high alert and intensify relief and rescue operations.
Following discharge of 9.50 lakh cusec of water from the Bansagar dam in Madhya Pradesh and the Rihand dam in Uttar Pradesh into the Sone during the past 48 hours several villages of Rohtas, Arwal, Patna, Aurangabad and Bhojpur districts were inundated, official sources said.
The water discharge from Bansagar on Sunday was recorded at 9.58 lakh cusec, the highest ever since 1975, forcing the State government to send letters to Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Jharkhand governments registering its protest over erratic discharge to the Sone.
In view of the worsened flood situation, the government has cancelled leave of all engineers till October 15 and postponed the State-level meeting of the chief engineers scheduled on September 29 and 30 to October 15 and 16.
The government has also sounded alert in Vaishali, Chapra, Samastipur, Katihar and Bhagalpur districts as the water level of the Ganga is rising due to heavy discharge into the Sone which culminates in the Ganga near Haldi-Chapra.
Heavy downpour in the catchments areas of the Sone led to the collapse of several mud houses in Rohtas.
Rohit Kumar (8) was killed and his sister Gudia (6) critically injured when their mud house collapsed at village Jamuna-Nawadih under Rohtas block on Sunday, sources said.
The government has taken up immediate relief and rescue operations and pressed into service a team of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) to rescue the marooned people.
Reports said the NDRF team reached Rohtas to rescue villagers stranded on small islands in the Sone area.