Life is taking slow steps towards normalcy in the flood stricken India after recent heavy rains left more than 100 people dead and many without shelters. Villagers begin the process of rebuilding their lives and their submerged villages after the flood fury swept many parts of Assam, Bihar and East Uttar Pradesh. The waters of the Brahmaputra and its tributaries have started falling, bringing some relief to thousands of people gripped by the recent floods in Assam. As water begins to recede from the Indo-Nepal border villages, situation begins to improve in Bihar and East U.P too.
Less rain in catchment areas of the rivers is the biggest contributing factor to this improvement. Flood-prone areas of Gorakhpur and Bahraich in Uttar Pradesh received a total of 20 mm and 1.4 mm of rain, respectively, in the last 48 hours.
The situation is similar in the Sub- Himalayan regions including West Bengal and Assam. The current setting looks less grim as various parts of the region received marginal rain as compared to the heavy showers last week. While Gangtok observed 22.8 mm of rain, Darjeeling recorded 12.2 mm and Jalpaiguri 0.5 mm in last 48 hours, the situation was worse last week in these regions. The heavy rain of 76.8 mm in Gangtok and 47.6 mm in Darjeeling on August 13 was one of the contributing factors to the onset of floods.
However, conditions will take time to be improve in parts of Bihar. Even though river Ganga and Sone in Bihar show receding trends, moderate rainfall in the last two days has not provided any substantial respite in the state. Heavy isolated showers of 88.6 mm and 21.8 mm were also recorded in Supaul and Motihari, respectively.
Besides rain, various other factors had worsened the situation in seven states of India comprising of hills, valleys and plains. Inundation and water logging, heavy rain in the catchment areas of the hills and inflow of rain waters from the hills of Nepal were some of the other causes that created flood like situation in Uttar Pradesh, Bengal, Bihar, Assam, Meghalaya, Uttarakhand and Jammu and Kashmir.
Southwest Monsoon had been vigorous over Odisha since the beginning of August and the state had been the most weather intensive pocket of the country. Sambalpur had received a whopping 273 mm of rain, while Jharsuguda received 115 mm on the 4th of August. Due to torrential rain, the state witnessed surface water logging and inundation. Heavy rain also resulted in steep rise in water level of more than nine rivers in the state. Rain reduced considerably by the 10th of August but damage repair continues.
Water clogging, heavy mud and slush formation due to flood water and water stagnation is causing high risk of epidemics in these areas. An increased level of diseases and unavailability of drinkable water are some of the other concerns that state government is currently facing.
So even though river water in these areas appear to recede, renewed threat of fresh moderate and heavy rains along the foothills of eastern U.P., Bihar and Northeastern states cannot be ruled out.
Picture courtesy: topnews.in
