(Feature Image: NDRF personnel conduct a rescue operation at a flood-affected area in Bihar’s Supaul district. Image Credit: PTI/Source Live Mint, Sept. 30)
India has seen several floods brought by breach of embankments during the 2024 monsoon. In Bihar, though the state has received deficit rainfalls, the overspilling of barrages and breaching of several embankments created widescale flood damages. Number of reports have again highlighted the ineffective and adverse role being played by flood protection structures in worsening the deluge impacts. The first part of the overview has covered dam induced flood incidents in the country during 2024 and third part has highlighted incidents of dam induced urban floods.
Barrage, Embankment Floods in Bihar
Bihar Frequent 2024 floods in Bhagalpur In this guest article, Ruchi Shree describes her experience of facing and watching Bhalgalpur Ganga floods in Sept 2024 and compares them with her earlier experience in Aug 2021. In SW Monsoon 2024, Bihar and also Bhagalpur had below normal rainfall and she wonders what are the implications and causes of such intense floods in times of deficit rainfall. Climate Change, Farakka backwaters, dredging for navigation, plastic pollution among others? https://sandrp.in/2024/10/22/frequent-2024-floods-in-bhagalpur-bihar-causes-and- (22 Oct. 2024)
Ring embankment breach floods villages in Bhagalpur After the collapse of the ring dam in Gopalpur of Navgachiya subdivision of Bhagalpur district, the difficulties of the people have increased. On Aug 20, the embankment collapsed due to the pressure of the Ganges river near spur number 8 of Ismailpur-Bind Toli embankment, and the water of the Ganges spread in many villages. There has been devastation here for the last few days due to this. On Aug 23, when erosion started in the upstream of spur-1, there was chaos. On Aug 24, the pressure on spur-9 increased. People started evacuating. https://www.prabhatkhabar.com/state/bihar/bhagalpur/bihar-flood-news-of-erosion-in-ganga-river-in-gopalpur-naugachia-dam-bhagalpur (24 Aug. 2024) According to the govt, approximately 12 districts along the Ganga are experiencing flood-like conditions, affecting over 13.5 lakh people in low-lying areas. As many as 376 village panchayats have been impacted, with many residents evacuated to camps. The 12 affected districts are Patna, Bhagalpur, Buxar, Bhojpur, Saran, Vaishali, Samastipur, Begusarai, Lakhisarai, Katihar, Khagaria & munger. https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/bihar-flood-bihar-houses-submerged-bihar-floods-video-swollen-ganga-swallows-up-houses-in-bihar-6638396 (24 Sept. 2024)
Highest discharge from barrages on Kosi, Gandak According to an official update by the WRD, 557,000 cusecs of water was released from Birpur Barrage on the Kosi till 5 PM on Sept 28. All 56 sluice gates of the barrage were opened. By 10 pm at night, the discharge had increased to 601,600 cusecs. Similarly, 480,000 cusecs was released from the Valmikinagar Barrage on the Gandak and all 36 sluice gates of barrage were opened on Sep 28. This later increased to 554,475 cusecs.
WRD officials admitted that they didn’t expect water levels to rise to these levels. “This is a dangerous situation,” a WRD official said. A quick glance at the official WRD records shows that the release of water from Birpur Barrage on Sept 28 is the highest after 1968 when 681,000 cusecs were released. The release from the Valmikinagar Barrage on the Gandak river is the highest after 2003. https://www.downtoearth.org.in/natural-disasters/spectre-of-floods-over-bihar-after-highest-discharge-of-water-from-barrages-on-kosi-gandak-since-1968-2003-respectively (9 Sep 2024)
Silt deposited in Kosi a reason for floods Kosi river brings about 120 million cubic meters of silt every year, due to which the river bed has become shallow and the risk of floods has increased. 94 % silt that comes to Kosi every year is from the monsoon months only. In 2024 flood, its quantity has increased even more. Kharif crops were damaged due to water and silt filling in the fields in many areas of Kosi and Rabi crops are also likely to be damaged.
The discharge capacity of Kosi barrage is 9.50 lakh cusecs, but on releasing only 6.15 lakh cusecs of water, it started overflowing the barrage. This is a dangerous signal about the health of the barrage & the danger of floods in future. Experts say that due to structures like embankments and barrages on the river, silt is accumulating and the risk of floods is increasing. https://hindi.mongabay.com/2024/10/24/silt-deposited-in-kosi-is-a-major-reason-for-floods-in-bihar/ (24 Oct. 2024)
Kosi barrage crisis aggravated Varun Kumar, Chief Engineer (Flood Control and Drainage) at Bihar WRD in Birpur says, “Siltation is an issue, and a lot of sediment is getting accumulated in Kosi due to which the riverbed is getting elevated and the discharge level of the barrage has reduced by 1-1.5 m. The govt is trying to deal with the problem of siltation. Desiltation is a complex process. Disposal of silt is a problem. We’re considering all the possible measures.” https://india.mongabay.com/2024/11/silt-a-major-reason-for-kosi-rivers-flooding/ (25 Nov 2024)
6-7 embankments breached in 24 hrs The breach of six embankments in 24 hrs on Sep 29 aggravated the situation, leading to the overflow of major rivers like the Kosi, Gandak and Bagmati, severely affecting districts near the Indo-Nepal border. The Bagmati River’s embankment breached in at least four places in Sitamarhi district, impacting thousands living along its banks. In W Champaran & Sheohar dists, embankments were breached, with the Gandak River breach in W Champaran sending large volumes of floodwater into the Valmiki Tiger Reserve. https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/bihar-flood-rain-champaran-bagmati-gandak-imd-forecast-alert-kosi-muzaffarpur-gopalganj-2608467-2024-09-30 (30 Sept. 2024)
Embankments breached On Sep 29 night, a tributary of Kosi broke the W embankment near the Bhugol village of Kiratpur in Darbhanga. Before this, in 9 hours, embankments broke at five places on the Bagmati river in Sitamarhi and Shivhar districts. Then the Champaran embankment also broke in Bagaha. The maximum impact of the flood is being seen in the areas of Supaul and W Champaran. In Araria too, water is flowing over the railway track. About 3.5 lakh population of more than 200 villages have been affected in a single day. https://www.prabhatkhabar.com/state/bihar/bihar-flood-7-embankments-broken-in-24-hours-in-bihar-more-than-50-roads-destroyed (30 Sept. 2024)
Flood situation grim as several embankments breached The flood crisis in Bihar intensified on Monday (Sept. 30), with officials reporting breaches in the embankments of the Kosi River in Darbhanga and the Bagmati River in Sitamarhi. The Kosi River overflowed near Kartarpur block, inundating the villages of Kirtarpur and Ghanshyampur, while seepage was detected in the Bagmati embankment in Runni Saidpur.
“The flood situation has worsened with fresh embankment breaches, but it is under control. There is nothing to panic,” an official stated. WRD Minister Vijay Kumar Choudhary confirmed that a total of six embankment breaches have been reported across the state, with some already repaired. The Bagmati River’s embankment at Madhkaul village and the Gandak River’s embankment in West Champaran were also compromised, leading to flooding in the Valmiki Tiger Reserve.
The govt issued flood alerts for various regions following heavy water discharge from the Birpur and Valmikinagar barrages over the weekend. The flood has significantly impacted several districts, including West and East Champaran, Sitamarhi, Sheohar, Muzaffarpur, Gopalganj, Siwan, Saran, Vaishali, Patna, Jehanabad, Madhubani, Araria, Purnea, Katihar, and Bhojpur. https://www.livemint.com/news/india/bihar-floods-people-scream-in-panic-as-kosi-river-water-levels-surge-embankments-breach-in-darbhanga-watch-11727705067922.html (30 Sept. 2024)
Embankment damagedin Bagaha The flood in Gandak river after record water discharges by dams in Nepal has caused severe flooding in Bagaha. Nearly 50 feet of road cum embankment near Daroga Chowk located in ward 15 of Sigadi Pipariya Panchayat has been submerged in water. Due to this, the water of Gandak river has started flowing rapidly towards the residential areas. Many villages have lost connection with Bagaha. The breach can submerge dozens of villages by late night. https://www.etvbharat.com/hi/!state/gandhi-embankment-broke-in-bagaha-flood-water-entered-many-villages-bihar-news-brs24092903966 (29 Sept. 2024)
Embankment breach in Darbhanga More than a dozen villages of Kiratpur and Ghanshyampur blocks have been affected due to breach in embankment on Kosi river. A crack appeared in the embankment of Bagmati river in Madhkaul village of Sitamarhi. https://hindi.moneycontrol.com/news/india/trends/bihar-flood-kosi-gandak-kamla-balan-rivers-spate-nepal-created-problems-lakhs-of-people-affected-1928146.html (30 Sept. 2024)
Nepal dam floods After the gate of Kulekhani reservoir of Nepal was opened, the Bagmati river flooded 3-4 blocks of Sitamarhi dist. There is devastation due to the breaking of the embankment of Bagmati river at 2 places in Belsand & 1 in Runnisaidpur block. https://navbharattimes.indiatimes.com/state/bihar/sitamarhi/bihar-flood-news-today-bagmati-fierce-form-seen-in-sitamarhi-another-embankment-breached/articleshow/113808847.cms (30 Sept. 2024)
Bakra river embankment breached in Araria Overflowing of Bakra and Parman rivers in Jokihat block has created flood. Due to the damage of Dehti embankment near Kakorwa of Palasi, the water of Bakra river has flooded. https://www.livehindustan.com/bihar/due-to-flood-in-parman-and-bakra-rivers-road-connectivity-is-affected-and-farmers-are-worry-about-crops-201727673185309.html (30 Sep 2024)
PD ring dam breach in Bettiah flooded over 20 villages The water released from Gandak Barrage is now creating havoc in Bettiah’s Bairia block. On Monday (Sept. 30) night at 12:00, the PD ring dam connected to Ghoraiya Champaran embankment located in South Patjirwa Panchayat of Bairia block has collapsed. Due to the breaking of this dam, more than two dozen villages along with four panchayats of Bairia block have come under the grip of flood.
Houses and agricultural crops have been destroyed. People said that there is another bund in Laukaria which is facing severe leakage. If it is not protected in time, it will break. The officials were informed about the weak condition of the bund earlier but they did not pay attention to it. https://www.etvbharat.com/hi/!state/flood-in-bettiah-water-of-gandak-river-entered-four-panchayats-due-to-breaking-of-pidi-ring-dam-bihar-news-brs24100102386 (01 Oct. 2024)
Embankment breach aggravates flood The report of the WRD in 2019 shows that between 1987 and 2018, more than 400 incidents of embankment breaking were reported in Bihar. Every year more than one and a half billion rupees are spent to build and repair embankments. In 2012 study, Rajiv Sinha and BC Roy of IIT Kanpur said that due to embankments, the river flow has been badly affected, increasing the risk of floods. https://www.aajtak.in/explained/story/bihar-flood-hovac-why-bihar-flooded-every-year-embankments-breached-koshi-river-pryd-dskc-2057209-2024-09-30 (30 Sept. 2024)
Bunds causing floods “Embankments narrowed the course of the river. Thus, while Kosi earlier had the option to distribute its sediments, now it was in a straitjacket. With nowhere for the sediments to go, the river’s bed has been rising by about 5 inches a year, making it more prone to overflowing,” Dinesh Kumar Mishra, convenor of NGO Barh Mukti Abhiyan said. This time, flooding is worse because the Birpur barrage on the Kosi in Nepal, released 6.6 lakh cusecs, the highest in almost six decades. On the Indian side, embankment breaches have been reported from 7 places in 4 dists. https://indianexpress.com/article/explained/why-bihar-is-flooded-every-year-9599418/lite/ (03 Oct. 2024)
Embankments worsen floods Embankments do not just restrict rivers. Embankments do not just fragment space. Embankments actually freeze time and space. Whatever remains inside the embankment becomes invisible and inviolable. Time stops there. Something similar has happened with the lives of people living within the embankments. The problem of Kosi Diara has become complicated. Sensitivity is needed to solve it. https://climateeast.in/kosi-river-flood-and-its-impact-on-common-life-by-rahul-yaduka/ (28 Oct. 2024)
Have dams, barrages & embankments stopped floods? For past 150-200 years it has been said that the rivers originating from Nepal cause havoc in Bihar (although no one knew about floods in Bihar before 1870) and to deal with them, big dams, barrages or embankments are inevitable, yet is it not necessary to build & maintain them properly? What is happening in the name of dealing with floods in Bihar? (Kumar Krishnan) https://www.spsmedia.in/dam-and-displacement/bihar-dams-barrages-and-embankments-of-naadani/ (Oct. 2024)
Kosi island villages between embankments neglected after floods Mahendra Yadav, the founder of Kosi Navnirman Manch says that their demand is that the victims should be rehabilitated, and a survey should be conducted, or else people will suffer every year. “The provisions of the Kosi Development Authority should be implemented. There are many whose fields are submerged in water. The govt should not levy taxes on them. The Kosi should be allowed to flow in its original stream. The flood problem cannot be solved by building more barrages,” says Yadav. It is noteworthy that to protect people from recurring floods, there are talks about building new barrages and raising and strengthening the embankments. https://india.mongabay.com/2024/11/island-villages-between-kosi-embankments-neglected-after-bihar-floods/ (7 Nov 2024)
Embankment worsen floods in North East India
Embankment floods lead to landless Mising The name Mising translates to ‘man of the water’ with mi meaning man and sing referring to water or river. However, unpredictable floods challenge the Mising tribe, who are normally accustomed to floods. The Mising tribe is attuned to flooding. However, that history does not work because the problem has shifted from a flood issue to a landlessness one,” Varma said. “They are losing land because the [Assam’s] WRD acquires their remaining land for their embankment.”
Varma is referring to the state’s policy that embankments should be built 500 metres away from the river. As the river washes away more land, the embankment is required to be reconstructed closer towards the villages harmed by floods. While embankments are one of the main flood mitigation policies for India, he said it is a “band-aid approach.”
Today, embankment breaches, happening from floodwaters and heavy rain, are a result of embankments constructed after the 1950 earthquake made mostly of local soil and sediment. These embankments are “washed away by large floods and by the natural relocation of channels in the braided river,” said Robert Wasson, a geomorphologist. https://india.mongabay.com/2024/10/when-books-sink-underwater-assam/ (04 Oct. 2024)
EDIT Embankment centric approach failing Despite flood after flood exposing the hazards of the embankment-centred approach, Assam’s authorities have not course corrected. Most of these flood control structures date back to the 1960s and 1970s, when the hydrology of Assam’s rivers, including the mighty Brahmaputra, was poorly understood. Solutions such as tapping into the knowledge systems of indigenous people to build flood-resistant houses, dredging rivers, arresting erosion or even building more resilient embankments have either remained on paper or haven’t been adequately implemented. https://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/editorials/why-assam-keeps-flooding-9435619/ (06 July 2024)
OTHER RELEVANT REPORTS
Rajasthan Borkhandikala pond embankment breached The embankment of Borkhandi pond in Peeplu subdivision broke on Aug 1 and there is erosion in the fields in the area of water flow. Due to this the fields are getting spoiled. Sarpanch Ramlal Meena said that this pond was broken last month also. The Water Resources Dept had got it repaired. https://www.bhaskar.com/local/rajasthan/tonk/news/the-broken-pond-caused-erosion-in-the-fields-making-irrigation-of-crops-difficult-133419027.html (02 Aug. 2024)
How flood protection structures heighten flood vulnerability Since 2007, more than Rs. 13,000 cr have been spent in flood protection measures through national schemes. In fact, data from the CWC shows that despite high investments in flood mitigation measures, the number of people affected and the economic damage resulting from floods have not reduced.
The researchers assessed the impacts of 132 flood protection structures in both basins – 60 in Ganga basin & 72 in the Brahmaputra basin. The analysis found that the social-vulnerability index increased generally from 2005–2006 to 2018–2019. Even smaller, lower cost flood protection structures produced a “levee effect,” compared to bigger, more visible ones. “The increase in vulnerability in the vicinity of FPS can be attributed to the increased population and economic activity in the regions around FPS,” the study adds.
Between the Ganga and Brahmaputra basins, the Brahmaputra showed greater vulnerability resulting from flood protection structures. This was because the Brahmaputra saw a bigger surge in built-up areas along the floodplains compared to the Ganga. https://india.mongabay.com/2024/11/how-flood-protection-structures-heighten-flood-vulnerability/ (29 Nov. 2024)
Bihar Exhibition on flood resilience of the residents’ The exhibition, titled Portraits of Persistence, and Enduring Communities of North Bihar is part of the Visual Kathã series by Eklavya Prasad from Megh Pyne Abhiyan (MPA). The photographs by Prasad, who has led MPA since 2005, document the immediate impacts on daily life, as homes, farmlands, and infrastructure yield to the force of water. The collection also reflects the long-lasting impacts of these floods, seen in the transformations of rural society, the reimagining of livelihoods, and the generational imprints on people’s lives. However, as Prasad notes, the people of the region adapt to survive remarkably in the face of this annual cyclical devastation through adaptive coping mechanisms and community innovations developed to meet critical needs. https://www.downtoearth.org.in/rivers/an-ode-to-the-spirit-of-a-people-whose-land-is-blighted-annually-by-floods (07 Dec. 2024)
I have documented stories of how embankments have often made floods worse in North Bihar. They have created a false sense of safety. The embankments have led to the silting up of the rivers making matters worse, complain river activists. Lakhs of villagers in Bihar still live inside embankments and face the brutal brunt of floods.
Portraits of Persistence is a reminder that the people affected have to be kept at the centre of any plans whether it is to manage floods or mitigate droughts. “The enduring spirit of people of North Bihar should not be taken for granted. While changing rainfall patterns can be attributed to global climate shifts, the region’s vulnerability has been exacerbated by years of poorly planned embankments, inadequate drainage systems, and unregulated construction on the floodplains,” Prasad concluded. (Nidhi Jamwal) https://kashmirtimes.com/opinion/comment-articles/bihar-floods-and-its-resilient-communities-visit-delhi (28 Dec. 2024)
Compiled by Bhim Singh Rawat (bhim.sandrp@gmail.com)
SANDRP 