Bihar is an Indian state as fertile and populous as any; it has had to bear the brunt of floods almost every year. The regularity of the floods devastates livelihoods, uproots people, and leaves permanent marks on the economy and infrastructure of the state. Why does this have to happen in Bihar alone? It’s a mesh of geographical, environmental, and human elements that makes Bihar particularly susceptible to the annual flooding. This year Bihar is once again facing severe floods which affected almost 12 lakhs of people who have been displaced, relying on air- dropped food packets and shelters. They are at the risk of water borne diseases.
Four Distinct Types of Floods
- Flash Floods: This types of floods occurs due to rainfall in Nepal.
- River Floods : This types of floods occurs due to overflowing rivers and the lead time is 24 hours.
- Drainage Congestion Floods: It occurs in river , taking 24 hours to develop and often lasting the entire Monsoon season.
- Permanent Waterlogging: The affected areas remain waterlogged throughout the year.
Reasons for Bihar annual flooding((Why The People Of Bihar Sees Floods Every Year)
- Geography and Topography:
The Natural Causes geographic factors are one of the biggest reasons for recurring floods in Bihar. The state happens to be located in the Indo-Gangetic plain, where many major rivers like Ganga, Kosi, Gandak and Bagmati flow through the state. These rivers originate from the Himalayas, a region that experiences very intense monsoons and glacial melts that increase the volume of water greatly downstream. The state’s flat terrain is coupled with low-lying areas, so water cannot trickle out here. Rivers flood large portions of the land due to overflow. Added to this is the problem brought in by the silt brought in by the rivers from the Himalayas, pushing up riverbeds and reducing their ability to hold water.
2. Poor Infrastructure and River Management
Another very significant reason behind Bihar’s flood disaster is poor infrastructure. As far as embankments and dams are concerned, they are supposed to control the rivers; however, more often than not, these embankments and dams fail due to poor maintenance, corruption, and defective planning. The Kosi River is popularly called the “Sorrow of Bihar.” This river is quite famous for breaking breaches in the embankments and changing its course, which has led to severe floods.
In many instances, measures of flood protection turn out to be counterproductive in themselves. The embankments have proved to be misleadingly assuring; instead of protecting people, they create false expectations of safety, allowing settlements to emerge even in the most vulnerable sectors. When the embankments fail, the total destruction is inevitable.
3. Monsoon Rains
Monsoon rains from June to September pour heavily in Bihar. Strong and extended rain during these months cause saturation of the water in the ground and addition to the height of water in rivers. In heavy monsoon years, rivers break their banks and huge areas are inundated.
3. Deforestation and Soil Erosion
Deforestation in the Himalayas, unchecked up to this point, is contributing immensely to the Bihar flood woes. The decrease in trees reduces the soil’s water holding capacity and leads to a quicker runoff into rivers. In turn, rivers swell quickly during heavy rain showers.
Soil erosion, a consequence of deforestation and poor land use practices, compounds the problem further. These streams of soil get mixed with the rivers, raise their beds, and this, in turn causes overflows of excess water over the rivers during the monsoons.
4. Climate Change: The New Threat
Climate change has worsened the floods in Bihar in the last few decades. The additional frequency and intensity in the uphill Himalayas add uncertainty to the whole scenario as it increases with more frequent heavy rainfalls. Further, the accelerated melting of glaciers in the Himalayas also increases the volume of water entering the rivers of Bihar.
Climate experts say that this conventional yearly monsoon pattern has been erratic with long dry spates followed by extremely heavy rain. Erratic weather conditions are even harder to handle in the management of flood.
5. Water from Nepal
Many rivers of Bihar find their source in neighboring Nepal, where heavy fall rains cause flooding downstream. The seriousness of the situation is worsened by a lack of adequate water management infrastructure in Nepal; the excess water flows through Bihar with no hindrance.
All these together go into making this flood annually ravage Bihar, killing millions of inhabitants and affecting far and wide agriculture and structure and livelihoods.
Why Floods came in 2024?
This year flood has been caused due to heavy rainfall and flooding in Nepal and release of water from its barrage on the Kosi River. Flooding in Bihar is worse this year due to the release of 6.6 lakh cusec of water from the Birpur barrage on the Kosi river in Nepal. Around 380 villages, home to 15 lakh people are trapped within the embankments.
What are the impacts due to the floods?
Flooding has a profound and widespread effect on Bihar, touching every possible sphere of life in the state. Its effects are not only immediate but also long-term, causing losses of lives and property, infrastructure, and the economy. A few of the salient impacts include:
- Loss of Life and Displacement
Floods in Bihar lead to tragic human losses. Thousands of people are annually displaced, and their homes submerged or destroyed. The displacement creates a massive humanitarian problem because the affected people are left to seek shelter in temporary camps, which often lack proper provisions of food, clean drinking water, or sanitary conditions. Diseases proliferate with these conditions and compound relief efforts.
- Damage to Agriculture
Bihar is an agrarian state, and floods cause widespread destruction of crops, thereby badly hampering the livelihoods of farmers. Paddy fields, in majority percentage, dominate Bihar’s agricultural landscape and are therefore vulnerable to flooding. Waterlogging and silt deposition reduce soil fertility and hamper agricultural productivity. Destruction of crops leads to acute shortage of food, price raises, and long-term economic hardship among rural communities. - Infrastructure Damage
Major damages to the infrastructure of Bihar like roads, bridges, schools, and health facilities occur in the floods. The state’s fragile infrastructure cannot handle the stress caused by massive floods. Roads and railways on which transportation and trade depend highly are often washed away or immersed, rendering whole districts disconnected and relief supply unreachable. Electricity and communication lines are also snapped . - Losses in terms of Economy
What can be imagined regarding the economic repercussions of floods in Bihar? Destruction of crops, livestock, houses, and infrastructure entails gigantic losses. Bihar, as one of the poorer states of India, can afford this tremendous burden of rebuilding and recovery. Business disruptions coupled with livelihood loss push many individuals to poverty and unemployment.
Annual floods are estimated to cost Bihar thousands of crores in damages. Also, the recurring cycles of destruction limit long-term economic growth, as resources that could be otherwise invested in development go into managing the disasters and reconstruction of damaged areas.
- Health Crises
The flood spreads various diseases in Bihar. Cholera and typhoid spread through contaminated drinking water. Malaria and dengue spread due to stagnant water left in the flooded areas. It acts as a breeding ground for mosquitoes. Since the basic amenity sanitation is lacking in relief camps, it further increases the difficulties in curbing these diseases at the camp.
Flooding disrupts the availability of healthcare too, as hospitals and other units of healthcare are either destroyed or inaccessible, further worsening the health crisis.
- Interference with Education
Many schools and other educational institutions become temporary sheltered places for the flood victims, causing a long period of time for which the schools are closed. This interferes with education on a large scale for thousands of children. The floodwaters can also damage school buildings and education materials, delays to normalcy even further.
On the long run, this will result in low literacy rates and a decreased ability to pursue opportunities for the children. It sets them up in another cycle of poverty.
- Migration and Social Displacement
Such acts of repeated destruction of homes and farmland require many people, especially from rural areas, to migrate to urban areas. This places a heavy burden on those cities, since there already is a scarcity of resources. Most of the migrants live in slums or in temporary shelters, and they hardly find stable employment or get access to basic services.
Social dislocation may also bring about breakdown of the community structure; this means that the traditional social support systems may weaken and the individual becomes a victim of future disasters.
- Psychological and Emotional Impact
Annual flooding carries heavy psychological implications largely overlooked. Families live in dread of the next flood all the time. The loss of one’s home, family members and source of livelihood also leaves long emotional scars. Among children and the elderly, anxiety and stress have now become the norm, as uncertainty displaces them with each flood. - Environmental Degradation
Floods lead to long-term environmental damage due to frequent flooding. Silt deposition, which incidentally enriches the soil in small measures, essentially buries fertile agricultural land under layers of sand and debris, thereby making it unfit for cultivation. Riverbank erosion also accelerates in floods, leading to loss of land and increased vulnerability to floods afterward.
This will also disorganize natural ecosystems, from forests to wetlands and wildlife habitats, thus leading to a loss of biodiversity. Other sources of water from sewage or chemical production can still damage aquatic life during flooding.
- Overstretching Government Resources
The Bihar government spends massive amounts of money every year on relief and rehabilitation after a flood and also on disaster management. Nevertheless, its efforts are dwarfed by the scale of the disaster. Thus, the development projects remain at a standstill or are stalled during floods. The funds that would have otherwise gone into meaningful infrastructure development, healthcare delivery, and education are used for relief measures.
ALSO READ:
https://samacharpatrika24.com/manoj-bharti/
What Should the Government Do?
Despite it being a problem so intricate and deeply rooted, there are several interventions that the government can make and implement to reduce its impact. Millions of lives and livelihoods are hung in the balance. There are potential interventions that the government can undertake to reduce the impact of flooding in Bihar.
- Comprehensive River Basin Management
This also demands a holistic river basin management approach to reduce flood risks in Bihar. The rivers must be managed as a whole, with the entire river system to be looked at from the Himalayas to their confluence in the sea.
This would cooperate with other countries and states, such as Nepal, from where most the rivers originate, to harmonize efforts in regulating the flow of water, enhancing better water storage structures, and managing the catchment river areas. Projects aimed at water retention in the upstream areas could help reduce the force of floods downstream.
- Improve and Modernize Infrastructure
This has to be so done through proper investment in modern flood-control infrastructure. Reinforcing embankments, regular maintenance works, and construction of new reservoirs and check dams are all of critical importance in managing floods. Along with this, repair needs to be undertaken forthwith, particularly in older and crumbling dams like the Kosi Barrage, so as not to let their breaches when they occur.
In addition to this, the government should also look into new technologies, such as early flood warning systems that take advantage of satellite data, drones, and artificial intelligence. It should be in a position to monitor river water levels real-time and be prepared if disasters occur.
- Promote Reafforestation and Sustainable Land Use
Replantation along the Himalayan regions and main rivers will further contribute significantly in checking soil erosion, apart from increasing water absorption. The government needs to be motivated towards developing environmentally sound agriculture and afforestation programs for rejuvenation of ecological balance.
Apart from this, retention ponds and check dams in flood-prone areas can also be constructed so that excess rainwater is trapped, thereby relieving load upon rivers during heavy monsoons.
- Re-location of Vulnerable Communities:
Many communities in Bihar live in places likely to experience major flooding; the residents of these places are evacuated almost every year. The state and central governments should make concerted efforts relocating the vulnerable communities in more safer locations. A long-term resettlement plan, coupled with activities of livelihood support and social infrastructure, could mitigate human suffering from these disasters. - Improve preparedness and relief efforts in disasters.
Flood impact would be reduced only when the state exercised its capacity to enhance the disaster preparedness. What the state needs is a well-coordinated framework of disaster management in respect of evacuation, supply of relief materials, and rehabilitation of displaced people.
Enhanced flood forecasting with grassroots networking and sensitization would reduce loss of life even further. Investments in infrastructure such as elevated shelters, boat services or rescue purpose, and emergency medical facilities would lead to a sound flood response from the state.
Conclusion (Why The People Of Bihar Sees Floods Every Year)
The Bihar flood is annually a result of interplay between the natural, infrastructure factors, and mismanagement. Even though the problem cannot be perfectly eradicated, it can be pretty much mitigated with proper river management, additional better infrastructure, reforestation, and strong disaster preparedness. To the people of Bihar, the flood crisis is not just a cure to disaster prevention but a form of protection for their future from climate change and rising levels of waters. Now is the time to act.