Five more people died today in flooding in Bihar, taking the death toll to 22, while 17.85 lakh have been hit in 10 districts as Chief Minister Nitish Kumar today made an aerial survey of the five flood-hit areas.
Kumar made the survey of flood affected areas of Bhagalpur, Katihar, Purnea, Kishanganj and Araria districts.
He held a review meeting with District Magistrates and Superintendents of Police of Purnea division to take stock of pace of relief and rehabilitation work in the inundated areas.
Flooding in Bihar is mainly due to heavy rainfall in Nepal's catchment areas as a result of which water from the swollen rivers are discharged towards the neighbouring areas in Bihar.
The Disaster Management Department had put the death toll at 17 yesterday. Five more deaths were reported today taking the toll to 22, it said.
The department officials said 17.85 lakh people residing in 1,630 villages in 49 flood-affected blocks of 10 districts have been rendered homeless.
The 10 districts which are affected by the flood are Purnea, Kishanganj, Araria, Darbhanga, Madhepura, Bahgalpur, Katihar, Saharsa, Supaul and Gopalganj.
Around one lakh hectares of land have been affected by the floods caused due to rise in the water levels of Mahananda, Bakhra, Kankai, Parmar and Kosi rivers of the state.
Around 3.88 lakh people have been displaced while 1.36 lakh people have taken shelter in the 357 relief camps run by the government.
Crops, spread over 50,000 hectares of land, valued at Rs 2.04 crore have been damaged by the flood.
Meanwhile, NDRF (National Disaster Response Force) said its nine teams have been pressed into service to rescue people in most sensitive flood areas.
NDRF teams are engaged in the most flood-affected Araria, Purnea and Kishanganj districts to carry out rescue work. An NDRF team has been sent to West Champaran and Gopalganj districts.
Besides, SDRF teams have also been deployed in the flood affected districts especially in the three districts of Araria, Purnea and Kishanganj.
15,000 packets of dry food have been sent to Purnea from Muzaffarpur, Madhubani, Saharsa, Madhepura for distribution among the flood affected people.
The dry food packet includes - 500 gm of sattu, 2 kg of chura (bitten rice), 250 gm sugar, small salt packet, candle, match, box, a torch, powder milk among others.
Twins were born on a NDRF boat today while being taken to
Mohanpur primary health centre (PHC) in Bihar's Patna district, a NDRF release said.
Later, the newborns and the mother were admitted to Mohanpur primary health centre, it said, adding this is the third time when babies were delivered on an NDRF boat while being taken to the hospital.
The NDRF team was asked for help by Rekha Devi's (25) family members. Within 50 minutes, a NDRF boat reached Chandrapura village from Kachi Dargah in Patna.
The team took the woman and other family members on the boat but she gave birth on the boat while being taken to PHC.
In order to speed up relief and rescue operations in view of floods in the state, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar today inspected the relief camps in Bhagalpur.
The CM held a meeting to review the flood situation with top officials and gave necessary directions in this regard, an official release said.
Chief Secretary Anjani Kumar Singh, Disaster Management Department Principal Secretary Vyasji and District Magistrate and Superintendent of Police, DIG and IG were also present during the meeting, it said.
Kumar later reached Purnea where he also held a meeting with top officials regarding the flood relief operations being carried out in Purnea, Araria and Kishanganj.
The CM will visit Katihar tomorrow where he is to inspect relief camps and review the relief and rescue operations in the district, the release added.
