In this two-part series, Dinesh Kumar Mishra highlights the challenges faced by the much abused Bangmati River in Bihar because of solid waste, industrial effluents, encroachment and rampant construction along the river's banks.
Heavy rainfall and swollen rivers have led to severe flooding in 15 districts of Bihar, affecting over 49 lakh people. Major rivers like the Ganga and Kosi are flowing above danger levels, prompting the deployment of disaster response teams and the establishment of relief camps and community kitchens for those displaced.
The death toll from devastating flash floods in Nepal has surged to 1,050, with nearly 4,000 people, including foreigners and security personnel, still missing. Rescuers are struggling with intermittent rainfall, rising river levels, and difficult terrain, while expert teams from India and China assist in operations, particularly at hydropower project sites where many workers are believed to be trapped in tunnels.
Bihar is facing a severe flood situation with the Central Water Commission issuing an 'Orange' bulletin as the Gandak and Ganga rivers flow above danger marks, leading to embankment breaches and inundation in Saran and other districts. Relief and rescue operations are intensifying with NDRF and SDRF teams deployed, and ration packets being air-dropped to affected areas.
Nepal is grappling with devastating flash floods and landslides that have claimed over 650 lives and left more than 2,400 missing. Rescue operations are underway, but fresh warnings of heavy rainfall and thunderstorms from the meteorology department threaten to disrupt these efforts, exacerbating the crisis. Chinese authorities have also issued alerts regarding a potential barrier lake breach in Tibet, posing further flood risks downstream.
A senior Geological Survey of India official warns that the Himalayas are vulnerable to cascading disasters, where one high-altitude event can trigger a chain of destructive events downstream, as evidenced by Nepal's recent floods. He stresses the need for integrated monitoring using satellite data and ground investigations to identify high-risk areas and improve preparedness in the Indian Himalayas.
The death toll from devastating flash floods in Nepal has reached 1,344, with rescue teams continuing to search for approximately 5,000 missing individuals, including foreign nationals, as identification of victims proves challenging due to the condition of recovered bodies.
Floods have forced hundreds of government schools across Bihar to shut, disrupting studies for thousands of students.
Nepal is grappling with one of its worst disasters in recent years as massive flash floods, triggered by an ice avalanche, have claimed 270 lives and left thousands missing across multiple districts, prompting urgent rescue and relief operations.
Residents of Galchhi, Nepal, are grappling with the aftermath of devastating flash floods caused by an ice-rock avalanche, which submerged homes and infrastructure within minutes, leaving many to rebuild their lives.
The death toll from flash floods in central Nepal has surged to 734, with nearly 2,500 people still missing. India has intensified its rescue and relief efforts, sending additional aid, technical teams, and forensic experts, while also working to locate and rescue over 275 missing Indian nationals.
Nepal's devastating flash floods have claimed 1,127 lives, with thousands still missing a week after the disaster. Rescuers are intensifying efforts to find survivors and recover bodies across affected regions, while police work to identify victims and relocate families from high-risk areas.
"Everything was here before, but now there is nothing left," said Nayan Tiwari, one of many residents returning to flood-hit Galchhi in central Nepal to recover whatever belongings remain and to restore homes that once held their everyday lives.
The swollen Bagmati River has breached its embankment in Bihar's Sitamarhi and Muzaffarpur districts, flooding hundreds of villages and forcing the villagers to take shelter at higher planes for safety.Official sources in Sitamarhi said on Saturday that the Bagmati River breached a dozen-feet stretch of the embankment at Tilakrajpur early on Saturday morning, inundating dozens of villages and affecting over 10,000 people. Some people were feared drowned.
The boat was carrying 30 children, and 20 of them have so far been rescued, they said.
At least 51 people, including an Indian national, have died in Nepal during protests against corruption and a ban on social media. The violence included attacks on government buildings and political offices.
Three hundred and sixteen families unsettled by the Bagmati river project in Bihar 40 years ago are still waiting to be rehabilitated. Dinesh Kumar Mishra brings you their plight.
He also performed puja at Basuki Naag temple in the premises by pouring milk.
Many low-lying areas in West Bengal's sub-Himalayan region were reeling from a flood-like situation while major rivers in Bihar were flowing above the danger level at several places as unabated heavy rain lashed the country's eastern parts on Sunday.
Deputy Secretary (Relief) Upendra Sharma said one Indian Air Force chopper and a column of the army comprising around 60 men with motorboats were pressed into service Saturday morning to provide relief and evacuate people.
Dinesh Kumar Mishra narrates the travails of a village uprooted by the mighty Bagmati.
The flood situation has worsened in northern Bihar's Sitamarhi and Muzaffarpur districts as relief and rescue operations have been badly hit by continuous rains and rising water levels. The overflowing river has submerged several villages and many villagers have been forced to leave their homes to seek a safer shelter. Over two lakh people in nearly 200 villages have been affected, and the situation has been worsened by another embankment breach of Lakhendei River.
The district administration has banned the sale of motor fuels without a permit from the district supply officer in order to stock reserves of petrol and diesel for vehicles to be used for flood-fighting and relief operations.
The worst-hit Sitamarhi district accounted for 22 deaths.
The bus, on its way to Sitamarhi from Muzaffarpur, plunged into the river as the driver lost control of the vehicle while trying to save a motor cyclist, they said.
Bodies of 26 people who drowned after two boats capsized in Bihar were recovered on Tuiesday even as a search was on to trace around 50 missing people, the police said.
The Union minister, along with some others, was on way to Thalwara in Hayaghat block when the engine of the motorboat fell silent and the vessel was being swept downstream by the strong current.
In addition to that, 68 people still remain missing, with 100 more sustaining injuries in the disaster.
More than 45 lakh people in 30 out of the total 38 districts of the state have been affected by the calamity in two phases since last month, according to the Disaster Management Department.
With major rivers in northern Bihar rising menacingly at several places in the state following heavy rains in catchment areas and discharge into the rivers from Nepal, thousands of people have been forced to abandon their homes and hundreds of villages have been flooded, officials said.
The bodies of four Indians, who were among 22 people killed in the Tara Air plane crash in Nepal's mountainous Mustang district, were cremated on Thursday at the sacred Pashupatinath temple in Kathmandu.
A sombre reminder of the enormity of the tragedy that has now claimed over 10,000 lives.
The overall flood situation in Bihar remained grim on Monday with major rivers in spate. Around 1.5 million people have been affected by the deluge in 11 north Bihar districts, where floods have claimed 52 lives so far, official sources said.
Hundreds of people are facing a shortage of food, safe drinking water and sanitation in Kathmandu following the natural disaster, according to eyewitnesses.
One more person died in floods in Patna district, taking the toll due to inundation in Bihar to 10 even as major rivers on Tuesday showed receding trend.
The famous 5th century Pashupatinath Temple Kathmandu has survived the massive 7.9 magnitude earthquake that flattened several World Heritages like iconic Dharhara tower and Darbar Square in Nepal.
Flood victims have been fighting for survival and living in temporary shelters nearby railway tracks with lack of food items. They are yet to get any help from the government, reports M I Khan.
Here are the highlights of Modi's second day in Nepal.
Prime Minister Sushil Koirala on Thursday met leaders of all 31 political parties to discuss key issues, including a key power trading pact, to be taken up with Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his maiden official visit to Nepal.
Odisha train crash is one of the deadliest such accidents since independence.
