7 die in Bihar floods, death toll at 179

Seven more people died on Friday taking the death toll in the devastating Bihar floods to 179 even as water level of the swollen Ganga started receding in many parts of the state. The seven fresh deaths have been reported from Vaishali, Samastipur and Khagaria districts.

Meanwhile, humidity levels shot up in the national capital on Friday oscillating between 95 and 69 per cent after two consecutive days of heavy rains even as the mercury settled at normal level. “The maximum temperature was recorded at 33.9 degrees Celsius, normal for this time of the year while the minimum was recorded at 25.5 degrees Celsius, a notch below normal,” a MeT official said.

Vaishali district alone accounted for the highest number of deaths at five, followed by Samastipur and Khagaria with one each, a statement by the Bihar Disaster Management Department said. The overall death toll in floods in Bihar has risen to 179, the statement said.

The flood has been caused mainly by swollen Ganga apart from other rain-fed rivers such as Sone, Punpun, Burhi Gandak, Ghaghra, Kosi and has affected 41.40 lakh people in 2,173 villages under 613 panchayats of 77 blocks of 12 districts in the state, it said.

A total of 6.56 lakh people have been evacuated so far from the 12 flood-affected districts of Buxar, Bhojpur, Patna, Vaishali, Saran, Begusarai, Samastipur, Lakhisarai, Khagaria, Munger, Bhagalpur and Katihar, the statement said.

In the wake of heavy rainfall in the basin of Barak river and its tributaries in Assam, the Central Water Commission on Friday said the river is expected to flow in “moderate to high flood situation” in the state and neighbouring Meghalaya and Manipur over the next few days.