Most rivers below red mark

PATNA: The little respite from flood fear in the bordering districts of Nepal on Wednesday is likely to vanish as there is forecast of heavy rain in Nepal and light to moderate rain in the Bihar plains over the next three days.

In fact, over the last 24 hours, there was let up in heavy rain in the catchment areas of Burhi Gandak, Bagmati, Parman and Kankai rivers, except in Gandak and Kosi river areas in Nepal. Gandak recorded 64mm rainfall at Pokhara in Nepal and moderate to heavy rainfall at several places in the catchment areas of Kosi.

The water discharge through Birpur barrage across Kosi was 1.33 lakh cusecs, down from 1.38 lakh cusecs in the morning, and 86,000 cusecs through Gandak barrage at Valmikinagar in West Champaran district against 1.21 lakh cusecs recorded on Tuesday.

The water level in most of the rivers was below the danger mark at several points, but the Central Water Commission (CWC) forecast light to moderate rain in the basins of all the rivers flowing through north Bihar and consequent rise in the water level of the rivers.

As per the flood bulletin released by the water resources department, moderate to heavy rain is expected from Wednesday to Friday in the catchment areas of all the major rivers originating in Nepal. The rivers concerned are Gandak, Burhi Gandak, Bagmati Adhwara, Kamla and Kosi. The catchment area of the Mahananda is expected to receive 78mm rainfall at Biratnagar.

Several small rivers in Araria and Kishanganj districts considered menacing for flood fury owing to brisk flow of water coming from the hills might accentuate the flood-related fears of people over the coming days.