Bihar flood toll rises to 153

[caption id="attachment_133370" align="aligncenter" width="565"] An aerial view of a flood-hit region of Motihari district in Bihar on Friday. PTI Photo[/caption] Patna, August 18 (IANS): With floods claiming 34 more lives Bihar in the last 24 hours, the death toll in the state rose to 153 on Friday, officials said. The flood situation remains grim in 15 districts, affecting millions. A Bihar Disaster Management Department official said a total of 108 lakh people spread over 1,688 panchayats had been affected by the floods. According to an official release, the floods have claimed 153 lives. The highest number of 30 deaths have been reported from the worst-hit Araria district, followed by 23 in West Champaran district, 13 in Sitamarhi and 11 each in Supaul, Kishanganj and East Champaran districts. Officials said 464,610 people have been evacuated to safer places by the Army and other rescued teams during the last five days. The government has set up 1,289 relief camps in the flood-hit district where a total of 392,654 people have taken shelter. With major rivers in spate and breaching banks, inundating fresh areas and displacing thousands since Thursday night, houses have been destroyed, buildings damaged and bridges and roads besides standing crops worth crores of rupees have been severely hit. An official said there was little hope of the situation improving in the coming days.

Flood bill of approx Rs 150 crore for railways in 7 days: Ministry

New Delhi, August 18 (PTI): Indian railways has incurred a loss of nearly Rs 150 crore in the last seven days due to floods in Assam, West Bengal, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, a spokesperson of the railways said. The Northeast Frontier Railway lost approximately Rs 12 cr per day as revenue from passengers and parcel, while repairs of submerged tracks would cost an estimated Rs 10 crore. The cumulative loss in this zone has been around Rs 94 crore. Similarly, the East Central Railway has lost Rs 5.5 crore per day while the cost of repairs is an estimated Rs 5 crore in this zone. “It is very difficult to ascertain the exact loss in revenue and these are all rough figures. The true picture will only be known after the situation normalises,” said Anil Saxena, Spokesperson, Railways. The loss of revenue, officials say, is mostly because of major cancellations of trains in these two zones primarily due to submerging of tracks. In NFR, a total of 445 trains have been cancelled, 151 partially cancelled and four diverted. In ECR, 66 trains were cancelled, 105 partially cancelled and 28 diverted.