Across South Asia, seasonal floods are wreaking havoc. Hundreds of people – men, women and children – in India, Bangladesh and Nepal have lost their lives. Millions have lost their homes and livelihoods. This is one of the worst floods in decades, decimating every region. Each region has suffered a different consequence of this tragic environmental disaster.
In Bihar, flooding is an annual horror. Each time, it is an unmitigated disaster, affecting over 70 percent of the population living below the poverty line.
Returning to normal life is a traumatic process. The period of the South West Monsoons (July to September) is when the worst flooding takes place. The first signs of a flood to come start in Nepal. The mountainous neighbour state is a source of many of the rivers that flow into Bihar – the Kosi, Gandak, Burhi Gandak, Bagmati, Kamla Balan, Mahananda and Adhwara. When the water surges up the mountains, it brings a torrent of floodwater and sediment down into the plains.
Bihar’s 108 million residents live in the most flood-prone region in India. And both the casualties and area affected has gone up over the years. In August 2017, as the rain continues to fall, 12.6 million people are left homeless and displaced by flooding. As of writing, the death toll is 304.
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