Floods in Bihar

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A view of 2008 Bihar flood Flooded Bihar.JPG
A view of 2008 Bihar flood

Bihar is India's most flood-prone state, with 76% of the population of North Bihar living under the recurring threat of devastating flooding. [1] [2] Bihar makes up 16.5% of India's flood-affected area and contains 22.1% of India's flood-affected population. [3] About 73.06% of Bihar's geographical area, 68,800 square kilometres (26,600 sq mi) out of 94,160 square kilometres (36,360 sq mi), is affected. Each year, floods kill many and damage livestock and other assets worth millions. [4] [2] In total, floods have claimed 9,500 lives since the government started publishing figures in 1979. [5] North Bihar districts are vulnerable to at least five major flood-causing rivers during monsoon – the Mahananda, Koshi, Bagmati, Burhi Gandak, and Gandak rivers – which originate in Nepal. Some South Bihar districts have also become vulnerable to floods, from the Son, Punpun, and Phalgu rivers. [6] The 2013 flood affected over 5.9 million people in 3,768 villages in 20 districts in the state. [7] The 2017 flood affected 19 districts in North Bihar, killing 514 people [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] and affecting over 17 million. [15] [16] [17] [18]

Contents

Causes of flooding

Manmohan Singh carried out an aerial survey of the flood-affected areas of Bihar with Chairperson, UPA, Smt. Sonia Gandhi, the Union Home Minister, Shri Shivraj V. Patil, the Union Minister for Railways, Shri Lalu Prasad. Manmohan Singh carried out an aerial survey of the flood-affected areas of Bihar. The Chairperson, UPA, Smt. Sonia Gandhi, the Union Home Minister, Shri Shivraj V. Patil, the Union Minister for Railways, Shri Lalu Prasad.jpg
Manmohan Singh carried out an aerial survey of the flood-affected areas of Bihar with Chairperson, UPA, Smt. Sonia Gandhi, the Union Home Minister, Shri Shivraj V. Patil, the Union Minister for Railways, Shri Lalu Prasad.

Geographically, Nepal is a mountainous region. When heavy rains occur in the mountains of central and eastern Nepal the water flows into the major drainages of the Narayani, Bagmati, and Koshi rivers. As these rivers cross into India they break their banks and flood the plains and lowlands of Bihar. To protect the Koshi River's embankments as well as the Koshi Barrage, or sluice gates, Indian engineers who are in charge of the dam in Nepal, open the sluice gates, which can cause flooding downriver in Bihar. In 2008, during a high-flow episode, a breach in the East Koshi afflux embankment, above the barrage, occurred and the Koshi river, known as the Sorrow of Bihar, found an old channel, near the border with Nepal and India, it had abandoned over 100 years previously. Approximately 15 million people were affected as the river broke its embankment at Kusaha in Nepal, submerging several districts of Nepal and India. 95% of the Koshi's total flowed through the new course.

Embankments

A recent fact-finding report on the Kosi floods of 2008 – prepared by a civilian organization, the Fact Finding Mission on the Kosi, composed of various experts such as Sudhirendar Sharma, Dinesh Kumar Mishra, and Gopal Krishna – highlighted the fact that although India has built over 3000 km of embankments in Bihar over the last few decades, the propensity for flooding has increased by 2.5 times during the same time period, not to mention that embankments failed during each major flooding event. [19]

The report, titled Kosi Deluge: The Worst is Still to Come, stressed that embankments straitjacket the river. In the case of the Kosi, it found that because of siltation the river bed had risen several feet in relation to the adjoining land. The high and low lands separated by embankments have created a situation where the lowlands have become permanently waterlogged. Sixteen per cent of the land mass of north Bihar is permanently waterlogged. [19]

In 1954, when Bihar's flood policy was introduced, Bihar had approximately 160 km of embankments. At that time, the flood-prone area in the state was estimated to be 2.5 million hectares. Upon completion of the system of embankments, 3,465 km had been constructed and were administered by the Water Resources Department (WRD). However, the amount of flood-prone land had increased to 6.89 million hectares by 2004.

Farakka Barrage

The recent period has seen serious interruption in the dynamic equilibrium of the river, hindering the natural oscillation of the river within its meandering belt. The meandering belt of the Ganges in Malda and Murshidabad districts is 10 km wide. Upstream of the Farakka Barrage, the water level of the Ganges has risen about 8 meters. The river, which flowed in a South Easterly course between Rajmahal and Farakka during early decades of this century, has now formed a concentration of meander loops to accommodate the additional discharge due to the barrage. Due to the obstruction caused by the Barrage, each year nearly 640 million tonnes of silt are accumulated in the riverbed. [20] In the last three decades this has resulted in the accumulation of nearly 18.56 billion tonnes of silt.

Farakka barrage has led to following problems upstream of the barrage:

A 2016 Central Water Commission (CWC) report on Bihar floods states that the Farakka Barrage, even under the worst scenario, can impact areas up to 42 km upstream, due to a backwater effect. [21] Patna is located about 400 km upstream. The report blamed the number of banana plantations on the river bank between Patna and Bhagalpur as one of the reasons for the floods, based on the assessment of 100 years of flooding of the Ganga. The CWC report stated that the sedimentation in Ganga, in Bihar, is basically due to huge sediment load contributed from its northern tributaries – the Ghaghra, Gandak and Kosi rivers. The flood-affected area in Bihar was 2.5 million hectares in 1954 when the length of all embankments in Bihar was 160 km, but the flood-affected area increased to 7.295 million hectares in 2016, after the construction of 3731 km of embankments. [22]

Contributing water sources

North Bihar is within the flood plains of eight major rivers, all of which are tributaries of the Ganges.

Statistics

Damages in Bihar Due to Flood, 1979–2006 [23] [24]
YearDistrictsBlocksPanchayatsVillagesHumans
(100,000)
Animals
(100,000)
Total Area
(100,000 ha)
Farmed Areas
(100,000 ha)
Crop Damage
(100,000 INR)
Houses DamagedPublic Property Damaged
(100,000 INR)
2006146337595910.890.11.810.87706.6318,6378,456.17
200512815621,46421.045.354.61.351,164.505,538305
2004202112,7889,346212.9986.862713.9952,205.64929,773103,049.60
2003241721,4965,07776.0211.9615.086.16,266.1345,2621,035.16
20022562,5048,318160.1852.5119.699.451,149.61419,01440,892.19
2001221941,9926,40590.9111.711.956.526,721.79222,07418,353.78
2000332132,32712,35190.188.098.054.438,303.70343,0913,780.66
1999241501,6045,05765.6613.588.453.0424,203.8891,8135,409.99
1998282602,7398,347134.730.9325.1212.8436,696.68199,6119,284.04
1997261691,9027,04369.6510.1114.716.555,737.66174,3792,038.09
1996291952,0496,41767.336.611.897.347,169.29116,1941,035.70
1995261771,9018,23366.298.159.264.2419,514.32297,7652,183.57
1994211121,0452,75540.1215.036.323.55,616.3333,876151.66
1993181241,2633,42253.526.6815.6411.3513,950.17219,8263,040.86
19928191704145.560.750.760.2558.091,2810.75
1991241371,3364,09648.235.139.84.052,361.0327,324139.93
1990241621,2594,17839.572.78.733.211,818.8811,009182.27
198916746521,82118.790.354.711.65704.887,74683.7
1988231811,6165,68762.340.2110.523.954,986.3214,759150.64
1987303826,11224,518286.6233.2547.525.767,881.001,704,999680.86
1986231891,8286,50975.8-19.187.9710,513.51136,7743,201.99
1985201621,2455,31553.09-7.944.383,129.52103,279204.64
1984232393,20911,154135-30.515.8718,543.85310,4052,717.72
1983221381,2244,06042.41-18.135.782,629.2538,679258.14
1982151101,1123,70846.8145.149.323.239,700.0068,242955.33
1981212012,1387,36769.4774.8312.617.717,213.1975,776-
1980211931,8697,01074.45-17.869.437,608.43118,507-
197913110--37.38-8.062.741,901.5227,816-

See also

Related Research Articles

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Saharsa</span> City and municipal corporation in Bihar, India

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ganges Basin</span> Part of the Ganges-Brahmaputra basin

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gandaki River</span> River in Nepal and India

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kosi River</span> River in Tibet, Nepal, and India

The Kosi or Koshi is a transboundary river which flows through China, Nepal and India. It drains the northern slopes of the Himalayas in Tibet and the southern slopes in Nepal. From a major confluence of tributaries north of the Chatra Gorge onwards, the Kosi River is also known as the Saptakoshi for its seven upper tributaries. These include the Tamur River originating from the Kanchenjunga area in the east and Arun River and the Sun Kosi from Tibet. The Sun Koshi's tributaries from east to west are the Dudh Koshi, Likhu Khola, Tamakoshi River, Bhote Koshi and Indravati. The Saptakoshi crosses into northern Bihar, India where it branches into distributaries before joining the Ganges near Kursela in Katihar district. The Kosi is the third-largest tributary of the Ganges by water discharge after the Ghaghara and the Yamuna.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">2008 Bihar flood</span> Devastating flood in Bihar, India

The 2008 Bihar flood was one of the most disastrous floods in the history of Bihar, an impoverished and densely populated state in India. The Koshi embankment near the Indo-Nepal border broke on 18 August 2008. The river changed course and flooded areas which had not been flooded in many decades. The flood affected over 2.3 million people in the northern part of Bihar.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Geography of Bihar</span>

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The 2007 Bihar flood occurred in August 2007 in the east Indian state of Bihar. It was described by the United Nations as the worst flood in the living memory of Bihar. Although annual floods are common in Bihar, heavier than usual rainfall during the monsoon season that year led to increasing water levels. By 3 August, the estimated death toll was 41 people, and 48 schoolgirls were marooned in a school in the Darbhanga district. By 8 August, the flooding had impacted an estimated 10 million people in Bihar. Army helicopters delivered food packets to residents, and 180 relief camps were established. By 10 August, aid workers in Bihar reported a dramatic increase in people with diarrhea and by 11 August, flood-related deaths were still occurring. The total number of deaths recorded in the 2007 Bihar floods was more than 1,300, the highest death toll in the state since the 1987 Bihar floods, in which more than 2,500 deaths were reported.

The 2004 Bihar flood was one of the worst floods in Bihar, India in a decade. 885 people and 3272 animals had lost their lives and nearly 21.299 million human were affected. 20 districts of Bihar were affected. An alarming rise in water level due to heavy rains inundated fresh areas in Bhagalpur district, Begusarai district, Katihar district, Darbhanga district, Samastipur district and Khagaria district. According to the Central Water Commission Bagmati, Budhi Gandak, Kamla Balan, Adhwara, Kosi and Mahananda rivers were flowing above the red mark at various places, while the Ganges crossed the danger mark for the first time at Farakka Barrage.

The Koshi embankments were built in late 1950s to retain the Kosi River which is a transboundary river between Nepal and India and is one of the largest tributaries of the Ganges. It was conceptualised during the first Bihar Government of CM Shri Babu and his deputy Anugraha Babu. According to the agreement with Nepal, the responsibility of maintaining these embankments was vested in the Government of Bihar.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kamala River</span> River in Nepal and Bihar

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">North Bihar</span> Geographic Region in Bihar, India

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">2017 Bihar flood</span> Flood in Bihar, India

2017 Bihar floods affected 19 districts of North Bihar causing death of 514 people. 2,371 panchayats under 187 blocks of 19 districts of Northern Bihar have been affected in the flood. Around 1.71 crore people were hit by the floods. Over 8.5 lakhs of people have lost their homes, with Araria district alone accounting for 2.2 lakh homeless people. 2017 Flood has broken 9-Year record of deaths In Bihar. Bihar is India's most flood-prone State, with 76% of the population in the North Bihar living under the recurring threat of flood devastation. Devastating flood was caused due to excess heavy rainfall in monsoon season.

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Saptakosi High Dam, also called Koshi High Dam, is a multipurpose project proposed to be constructed on the Saptakoshi River of Nepal. The project is primarily aimed to control floods in south-east Nepal and northern Bihar of India, and to generate hydro power. An issue subsequently coming with this project is Nepal’s access to sea port via 165 km long navigation canal linking to Calcutta sea port through River Ganges.

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