At least 15 districts of Bihar including capital Patna were badly hit after heavy rains lashed the state on Saturday. The incessant rains have caused flood-like situation in several parts of the state, throwing normal life completely out of gear.
Red alert has been issued in several districts, including Madhubani, Supaul, Araria, Kishanganj, Muzaffarpur, Banka, Samastipur, Madhepura, Sahasa, Purnia, Darbhanga, Bhagalpur, Khagaria, Katihar and Vaishali. The MeT department also issued orange alert in 10 other districts namely East Champaran, P Champaran, Poo Champaran, Shivhar, Begusarai, Sitamarhi, Saran, Siwan, Begusarai and Bhojpur.
The state and Central government are closely monitoring the situation and 20 teams of NDRF and 12 of SDRF have been despatched for relief and rescue operations. Talking to Zee News, Disaster Management Minister Laskhmeshwar Rai said that additional four teams of NDRF have been called from Guwahati to help in rescue operations.
It is feared that situation will get worse on Sunday as the India Meteorological Department (IMD) has predicted that isolated places over Bihar, Himachal Pradesh and Gujarat are likely to receive heavy rainfall in next 24 hours. "Heavy to very heavy rainfall with extremely heavy falls very likely at isolated places over Chhattisgarh, Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh and Delhi,Uttar Pradesh, East Rajasthan, Gangetic West Bengal, Jharkhand, Assam and Meghalaya," the IMD said.
The MeT department also issued orange alert in 10 other districts namely East Champaran, P Champaran, Poo Champaran, Shivhar, Begusarai, Sitamarhi, Saran, Siwan, Begusarai and Bhojpur.
Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Saturday called a meeting for disaster management, via video conferencing, to get a review of the relief and rescue operations. Sources said that the chief minister has directed the state government officials to remain on high alert an closely monitor the rise in the water level of the Ganga river.
On Saturday, Patna received very heavy rainfall, causing massive traffic jams and water-logging in many areas of the capital city. The low-lying areas of Patna like Kankarbagh, Rajendra Nagar, Gardani Bagh, Dak Bunglow and SK Puri were the worst affected.
