Patna: Heavy rain has flooded Bihar’s capital of Patna and inundated 12 other districts in the state, snapping power connections in several of the areas and affecting the flow of essential supplies.
Boats were deployed on Patna’s busy commercial roads of Rajendra Nagar and Kankarbah area, with Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi and his family among those rescued by the State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) Monday morning.
Not everyone, however, was as lucky. Noted folk singer Sharda Sinha told ThePrint that she had been appealing for help for the last three days “but there is no one to listen”. The water is waist-deep in her house.
In Patna, District Magistrate Kumar Ravi has ordered the closure of all government and private schools till Tuesday. “There are six teams of State Disaster Response Force in Patna and till Sunday we have rescued 253 people and taken them to safer places,” Ravi told ThePrint claiming that the district administration was on full alert and taking all necessary measures.
Milk supply has been severely disrupted in Patna while the flood waters have forced petrol pumps in the capital to close down. “Water has entered several showrooms causing damage to trade and business,” said Arindam Guha, a businessman on Fraser Road.
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12 districts face the brunt of rains
The meteorological department had issued an alarm Thursday for 12 districts in the state. By Saturday, flood waters had entered Darbhanga, Katihar, Bhagalpur, Khagaria, Sitamarhi, West Champaran, East Champaran and Muzaffarpur.
The water resource department has declared that water levels of major rivers such as the Ganga, Burhi Gandak, Bagmati and Kamala Balan were still flowing above the danger level.
“From Friday to Sunday, the total rainfall in Patna was above 250 mm,” said Anand Shankar of the Patna Met office. On Monday the situation had improved with no showers since morning but cloud cover still persists.
The high water levels have brought comparisons to the floods of 1975 when most of Patna was submerged. “But the preparations by the district administration then was much better. There was a relief and rehabilitation centre at Patna College and officials were visible in half pants. This time there is no help and nobody is visible,” said Lav Kumar Mishra, a resident of Kankarbagh whose house has been inundated for the last four days.
The opposition is now taunting Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and his Smart City Patna ambitions. “The heavy rains have exposed Nitish Kumar’s claims on development. The administration could not ensure that the drainage system is functional before rains,” said RJD vice-president Shivanand Tiwari.
The chief minister had reviewed the flood situation Sunday and attributed the changing weather patterns for this year’s situation in Patna. “The monsoon recedes by this time,” he said. “But this year, we had very little rain in the initial stage and heavy rains at the end.”
The Union Ministry of Home Affairs has deployed 19 NDRF teams in Bihar to carry out relief work.
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News reports of unprecedented heavy and life-threatening rain , floods are continuing to pour in from UP , Bihar , some parts of Rajasthan , Madhya Pradesh , during last some days in September , particularly around and on 28 and 29 September , 2019. The number of casualties so far in Bihar has touched 43 which is continuing to mount by the day while in U.P. the count has crossed 100. Large number are moving to safety. There has been a huge loss of property. Some days past in September 2019 , Pune in Maharashtra was also in news for similar woes. In this context , it may be apt to refer readers to the predictive alert of this Vedic astrology writer through article – “ The year 2019 astrologically for India” – published last year 2018 on 7 October at theindiapost.com. The related text in the article reads like this :- “ July to September in 2019. These three months may also call for more care against floods , landslide , etc. Over reaction may not drag us to war or wastage”. A similar alert was sounded by this writer through another predictive article – “ World trends in April to August 2019” – brought to public domain widely in March and subsequently on 5 April 2019. A review of these alerts carried out by this writer in May 2019 , had suggested that more care and appropriate strategy in relation to , among other things , floods and damage to crops and the like in some vulnerable States of India like HP-Uttarakhand-J&K-Punjab-Delhi-Rajasthan-Bihar-Gujarat-UP , may be called for. The period suggested was from about 7 August to 9 October , while the one from 20 September ( 28-29 September ) to 9 October in 2019 was predicted to be more particular. Now , more care may be called for on 5 and 6 October also in relation to multiple issues . Going by news reports , it can be said that the alert , several months prior , was meaningful.