Gauracandra 1 Report post Posted August 26, 2001 India floods displace 3 million August 25, 2001 Posted: 3:17 PM EDT (1917 GMT) PATNA, India (Reuters) -- Nearly three million people have been displaced by the second wave of flooding this month in the eastern Indian state of Bihar, authorities said on Saturday. The floods were triggered by three days of non-stop torrential rain in neighbouring Nepal which caused a rise in the water levels of the Gandak and Bagmati rivers that flow into Bihar from the Himalayan country, they said. The impoverished state's relief and rehabilitation commissioner, Girish Shankar, told Reuters 2.8 million people had been displaced across the state and district authorities had deployed boats to rescue marooned people and provide them with emergency aid. Thousands of people were evacuated from their homes in Bihar earlier this month as floodwaters submerged more than 300 villages and destroyed 55,000 hectares (136,000 acres) of crops. Some half a million people had also been displaced by those floods and crops worth an estimated 100 million rupees ($2.12 million) were destroyed. Bihar's Water Resources Commissioner Radha Singh said officials of her department were on alert to prevent rivers from breaching their banks after the fresh flooding. "I am optimistic the situation will improve. According to reports I have received from Kathmandu on Saturday, the rainfall is not heavy now," she said. Relief commissioner Shankar said Gopalganj, East Champaran, West Champaran, Muzaffarpur, Vaishali and Saran districts through which the Gandak river flows, were the worst hit. He said the state had sought a federal grant of 7.35 billion rupees to make up for the losses caused by the floods. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
