By IANS,
Patna : The flood situation in Bihar worsened Monday with hundreds of villages inundated and thousands marooned after heavy donwpour pushed up the levels of the Ganges and Sone rivers.
The situation was compounded following the sudden release of nearly 10 lakh cusecs of water from the Bansagar reservoir in Madhya Pradesh and the Rihand dam in Uttar Pradesh.
In view of the alarming situation in some areas, the Bihar government deployed teams of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) to rescue the marooned villagers.
The state disaster management department has asked people living in low-lying areas to move to higher ground, its principal secretary Vayas Ji said.
The department said over five lakh people in a dozen districts have been affected by the floods. Thousands were marooned.
Hundreds fled their homes after their villages came under a sea of water in Rohtas, Aurangabad, Arwal, Patna, Bhojpur, Saran snf, Vaishali districts, an official said.
The government has cancelled the leave of all engineers of the water resources department till Oct 15 and postponed the state level meeting of chief engineers scheduled Sep 29-30 to Oct 15-16.
Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has asked district authorities to be on high alert.
The Patna and Ara canals of the Sone river have been closed as a precaution.
The water resources department said the sudden discharge of water in the Sone from Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh was the largest since 1975.
Bihar Water Resources Minister Vijay Kumar Choudhary said the state government has lodged a strong protest with both the states.
According to the central water commission, all major rivers in Bihar were flowing above the danger mark.
This is second time in 20 days when a sudden rise in water levels of the Ganges and Sone has created havoc.