Floods in Bihar caused by heavy rains in Nepal, parts of state: Nitish

Heavy rains in Nepal and parts of Bihar in the past three days has triggered floods in the state, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar said today after he conducted an aerial survey of the affected areas.

"The effect appears to be akin to flash flood," he said after the aerial survey of flood-hit Kisanganj, Araria, Purnea and Katihar districts.

During the survey, Kumar was accompanied by Disaster Management Minister Dinesh Chandra Yadav and Chief Secretary Anjani Kumar Singh.

Araria, he said, was the worst effected district of the state as flood waters have entered the district headquarter town. Floods waters have also entered areas in Kisanganj, three blocks of Purnea and one block of Katihar and damaged roads.

The chief minister said the state government has been carrying out relief operations in the flood-hit areas on a war footing.

He said principal secretaries of disaster management, road construction and rural development departments would make an aerial survey tomorrow to prepare a detailed report of damage caused by floods.

The Bihar CM thanked the Centre for its prompt response in providing assistance to the state after he spoke to Prime Minister Narendra Modi over phone yesterday.

He said that he also spoke to Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh and Defence Minister Arun Jaitley on the flood situation.

"I thank the Centre for timely help to the marooned people of Bihar. Besides, Army column sent to Purnea, four teams of NDRF had arrived in Bihar yesterday and six more NDRF teams landed today to assist state to take up relief and rehabilitation work on a war footing," he added.

Kumar also directed the district magistrates of the flood affected areas to make an aerial trip to assess the problem and arrange effective relief and rehabilitation accordingly.

Meanwhile, East Central Railway (ECR) said rail traffic has been hit between Kisanganj and Hatwar in West Bengal as water is flowing above the danger mark at pillar number 117 under Katihar division.

A total of 33 trains have been cancelled and 11 short- terminated, ECR chief public relations officer (CPRO) Rajesh Kumar said in a statement.

Prominent trains cancelled included New Delhi-Dibrugarh Rajdhani Express, Alipurdwar-Delhi Mahananda Express, Guwahati -Lokmanya Tilak Express, North-East Express, Ajmer-Kisanganj Garib Nawaz Express, Amritsar-Katihar.