Kosi flash flood fears prompt evacuations





Flood warnings were sounded in Bihar's Saharsa and Purnia divisions on Saturday , with people alerted between the east and west embankments of Kosi to move to safer places. This was after Saharsa district magistrate Shashi Bhushan Kumar made on-spot assessment of the danger to Kosi's embankments after heavy flow of water into the river from Nepal side.

A massive landslide took place on Saturday following heavy rain in Jhure in Sindhupalchok district in Nepal. The landslide is blocking the water flow into the Kosi and the authorities there, to prevent flooding, were planning to detonate the blockade. Should this happen, a sudden gush of water is inevitable which would flow down into an already swelling river on the Indian side.

The Indian embassy in Kathmandu has informed the National Disaster Management Authority about the likely discharge of 25 lakh cusecs of water post blast. In either case, 40% of the discharge will gush into Bihar. The water will take about 12 hours to hit the Kosi barrage which has the capacity of sustaining pressure of only eight lakh cusecs. The flood, if it occurs, would affect a popula , tion of 1.5 lakh in Bihar's eight districts, including 50,000 peo ple in 22 panchayats of Supaul district alone. Bihar has begun to evacuate people from the vil lages within the embankment area in 22 panchayats of Supaul district and 7 other districts.

Cloudburst flattens over 30 houses

Dehradun: Over 30 houses were flattened by a cloudburst in remote Mori village in Uttarakhand's Uttarkashi district late Friday. However, there were no casualties as all villagers were away at the time of the incident, state chief secretary Subhash Kumar said on Saturday.