New Delhi, (Samajweekly) Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, and Assam stay threatened by floods as per data from over 50 Central Water Commission (CWC) stations across these states, the CWC said on Friday.
One station in Bihar is showing extreme flood situation, 28 – 18 in Bihar, seven in Uttar Pradesh and one each in Assam, Jharkhand, and West Bengal – a severe flood situation and 24 stations – 12 are in Bihar, seven in Uttar Pradesh, and five in Assam, above normal flood situation, the CWC flood bulletin said.
Inflow forecast has been issued for 19 barrages and dams – seven of them in Karnataka, four in Jharkhand, three each in Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu, and one each in West Bengal and Andhra Pradesh.
Meanwhile, the Ganga basin comprising large parts of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand & West Bengal has been witnessing continuous flooding due to combined effect of river runoff from Yamuna and northern tributaries of Ganga, including those coming from Nepal.
The main Ganga is flowing in severe flood situations from Patna (Bihar) to Murshirabad (West Bengal), from Praygraj to Ballia (both Uttar Pradesh), it is in falling to steady state, where as from Patna and downstream, it is flowing with rising trend.
“Alert may be kept in districts of Prayagraj, Varanasi, Ghazipur (UP), Buxar, Patna, Munger, and Bhagalpur (Bihar), Sahibganj (Jharkhand) and Malda, and Murshirabad (West Bengal). Passing peak inflow will further increase the water level of main Ganga stem in Bihar, Jharkhand, and West Bengal in next two to three days,” the bulletin said.
Currently, Ganga, at the CWC site Hathidah in Patna district, is flowing above high flood level mark. The present water level observed at site is 43.22 m and expected water level at 8 a.m. of Saturday is 43.29 m.
The middle reaches of the Ganga in districts such as Badaun and Farrukhabad (Uttar Pradesh) are in above normal flood situations. River Ghaghra in Barabanki, Ayodhya and Ballia (UP) and Siwan and Saran (Bihar) districts is flowing in above normal flood situation.
Rivers Sone and Punpun are flowing in severe flood situation in Patna, and the Rapti is flowing in above normal situation in Balarampur district (UP), it said.
The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has forecasted heavy rainfall over the Rapti in next 24 hours, the release said, and suggested alert may be kept in Shravasti, Siddharth Nagar, Basti, Sant Kabir Nagar and Gorakhpur (UP) districts.
Currently the flood originated in tributaries of Yamuna last week is passing through Ganga and it may take another three to five days to pass through completely; in such situation, a further runoff created due to intense rainfall in the catchments of north tributaries of Ganga may not stream into Ganga easily. The flooding situation in districts such as Ballia and Praygraj (UP), and Saran, Bhagalpur, Katihar (Bihar) may get accentuated, the CWC said.
In Bihar, river Kosi in Supaul, Khagaria, and Katihar districts, Bagmati in Sitamarhi, Muzzafarpur, and Darbhanga districts, Gandak in Kushinagar, Gopalganj, Muzaffarpur, and Vaishali districts, Adhwara in Darbhanga, Kamla and Kamlabalan in Madhubani district, Burhi Gandak in Samastipur and Khagaria districts, Parman in Araria, Mahananda in Kishanganj and Purnia districts are flowing in above normal flood situations.
Hydrological situation in Yamuna basin has returned to normal except the tail end regions. The main Yamuna at district Praygraj is flowing in severe flood situation with decreasing trend.
Panchana (Karauli district) and Ranapratap Sagar (Chittorgarh district) dams of Rajasthan are having high storages, hence releases from these dams may be done as per SOP by informing downstream districts of lower riparian states, the CWC advised the dam operators.
The IMD has predicted very heavy rains in the catchment of Brahmaputra, Barak and its tributaries and hence, Assam, West Bengal, Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh & Meghalaya have been out on alert for next two to three days.
In Assam, the Jia Bharali in Sonitpur district is flowing in severe flood situation, and Beki in Barpeta district, Gurang in Kohrajhar district, Sankosh in Dhubri district, river Brahmaputra in Dibrugarh and Jorhat districts are flowing in above normal flood situation, the CWC bulletin added.
