Over five million people hit by floods in northern India – ‘We are left with nothing, as all our farms are flooded’

1 September 2013 (Press TV) – Indian officials say floods triggered by heavy monsoon rains have affected more than five million people in over a dozen districts of the northern Bihar state, as rain-swollen rivers burst their banks. “Major rivers, including the Ganga, Sone, Budhi Gandak, Kosi and Gandak, are not showing receding trend so far, a bad news for hundreds of thousands of people affected by floods,” an official with the Central Water Commission said on condition of anonymity on Sunday. Reports from Bhagalpur, Buxar, Begusarai and Munger, Khagaria districts indicate that the situation has taken a turn for the worse, and the Ganga River has wrought havoc in over 1,000 villages. “The flood water submerged the national highway at several places,” an official from the India’s National Disaster Management Authority said. Bihar Water Resources Minister Vijay Kumar Choudhary said the necessary instructions to prevent flooding have been given to officials. “The government has deployed many joint teams of National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and state disaster response,” he said. Meanwhile, flash floods have displaced hundreds of people, covered farms and surrounded houses in Uttar Pradesh state. The floods have washed away roads and made it difficult for people to communicate. “Our house and our sugarcane field have been submerged in water. We have to reach our schools on boat. Some people have left their homes and gone,” Sangeeta Yadav, a schoolgirl, said. “We are facing problems but we are trying to manage. We are left with nothing, as all our farms are flooded. Now we are using up our savings,” Ram Jhiavan, resident of a village affected by floods, said. [more]

Over five million people hit by floods in northern India