Floods in Bihar are an annual phenomenon. But what makes the 2021 floodsunprecedented in nature are their scale and longevity. This year, thedeluge started way early, in June.Normally, floods in the state occur in July, at the height of the southwest monsoon. But this time, Bihar, along with a few other states
along the Gangetic-Brahmaputra basin, started reporting floods as earlyas June.
The state reported unusually high rainfall that month — an excess of 111 percent — resulting in seven districts declaring a flood-like situation.So why did the state report floods through July and August? Nilanjan Ghosh, director of the Observer Research Foundation’s Kolkata center
said the cause lay further east of Bihar.
The Farakka barrage in West Bengal regulates the flow of the Ganga. This has led to sediment deposition upstream of Farakka, from Ballia in Uttar Pradesh to Bhagalpur in Bihar. This, in turn, has led to a rise in theheight of the river bed. Hence, the record flood levels the state is witnessing. Read more