Bihar's old enemy

In all, 16 people were washed away in six hours on August 12 in this small settlement in Araria district along eastern Bihar’s border with Nepal. Across the state, the raging waters claimed 514 lives in a flood that has revealed both — the decades-old tragedy of Bihar’s yearly inundation, and a worrying new trend in which previously safe districts like Araria and Kishenganj have been particularly hard it. Floods have claimed 215 lives in Araria over 18 years, of which 95 were lost in 2017 and 61 in 2016.
The floods of 2016 and 2017, say villagers, experts and government officers, are evidence that the pattern of Bihar’s yearly inundation is rapidly changing — disrupting the plans of disaster management experts. In Jogbani, this meant that the waters rose, claimed lives, and receded before a relief effort could even begin. This year’s flood, the worst in a decade, followed the classic pattern in western Bihar where rain-swollen rivers breached their embankments in at least eight places — resulting in the death of 138 people. But in the east, the inundation was caused by a rain-triggered flash flood, even as the Kosi, a river known as the sorrow of Bihar, stayed on course.