The tragedy for the 20 lakh displaced in Bihar due to the flooding of the Kosi is going to be a long-drawn affair with the Bihar government admitting today that repairing the breach in the river’s eastern embankment in Nepal — which sparked off the flood — cannot start until December.

That breach, 12 km upstream from the India-Nepal border, which happened on August 18, was just 400 m but is now almost 1.7 km long and its repair has to wait until the waters recede.

Water volume has only risen in the past two days from an average of 1.25 lakh cusecs to 1.80 lakh cusecs due to heavy rains. And according to the latest Met report made available to the Crisis Management Group (CMG) headed by Cabinet Secretary K M Chandrashekhar today, more rainfall, about 50 mm, is forecast in the next two days. This not only makes the picture look grim but also raises the possibility of more areas being affected in the coming days as water volume is estimated to increase to 2.5 lakh cusecs. The worst on the Kosi has been 9 lakh cusecs in a flood in the pre-Independence period.

As of now, about 800 villages across 264 panchayats in 25 blocks of Madhepura, Supaul and other neighbouring districts are hit. A massive effort is underway to evacuate 20 lakh people and move them to about 110 large relief camps being built on an urgent basis with the help of National Disaster Management Authority.

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