"Bihar Flood Risk Eases After Nepal Flash Floods Surge Gandak River"
Cusec
unit of water flow; one cubic foot per second, equal to 28.32 litres per second.
Valmikinagar Barrage
flood-control structure on the Gandak river in West Champaran, Bihar, near the Indo-Nepal border.
Bihar is among India's most flood-prone states. The Rashtriya Barh Ayog (National Flood Commission) estimated that roughly 40 million hectares of land across India is flood-prone, and Bihar accounts for a disproportionate share of this vulnerability. The state's northern districts sit on the vast Ganga-Brahmaputra alluvial plain, drained by a network of Himalayan rivers, the Gandak, Kosi, Bagmati, Burhi Gandak, and Kamla-Balan, that originate in Nepal and carry enormous sediment and discharge loads during the monsoon.
The Disaster Management Act, 2005 established a three-tier institutional structure: the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) at the centre, State Disaster Management Authorities (SDMAs) at the state level, and District Disaster Management Authorities (DDMAs) at the district level. India is also a signatory to the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015–2030, which prioritises risk understanding, governance strengthening, and resilience investment. In practice, however, flood response in Bihar has remained overwhelmingly reactive, focused on relief and rescue after inundation rather than upstream risk reduction.
The transboundary dimension is critical. Most of Bihar's flood-causing rivers originate in the Nepal Himalayas. Cloudbursts and flash floods in Nepal's mid-hills translate within hours into dangerous discharge surges at barrages along the Indo-Nepal border. The Valmikinagar barrage on the Gandak river, located in West Champaran district, is the primary control point for managing Gandak flows into Bihar. India and Nepal share the Gandak Treaty (1959), which governs water sharing and barrage operations, but real-time hydrological data sharing and joint early-warning systems remain underdeveloped.
The Gandak river, known as the Narayani on the Nepal side, is one of the major left-bank tributaries of the Ganga. It drains a large catchment in the Nepal Himalayas and the Tibetan plateau before entering the Indo-Gangetic plain at Valmikinagar. Its discharge is highly variable: during normal monsoon, flows are manageable, but a single cloudburst event in Nepal's mid-hills can cause discharge to spike by tens of thousands of cusecs within hours. One cusec (cubic feet per second) equals 28.32 litres of water per second, a unit widely used in Indian water management.
The Valmikinagar barrage has 36 gates. During a flood surge, all gates are opened to pass the incoming flow downstream, preventing structural damage to the barrage itself. This action, however, releases large volumes of water into the Gandak's downstream channel in Bihar, raising flood risk for communities along the river. …
With reference to the Himalayan rivers joining the Ganga downstream of Prayagraj from West to East, which one of the following sequences is correct?
Account for the huge flooding of million cities in India including the smart ones like Hyderabad and Pune. Suggest lasting remedial measures.
Discuss the distribution and density of population in the Ganga River Basin with special reference to land, soil and water resources.
Consider the following statements regarding the Gandak river system:
1.The Gandak is known as the Narayani on the Nepal side of the border.
2.The Gandak is a right-bank tributary of the Ganga.
3.The Valmikinagar barrage on the Gandak is located in West Champaran district of Bihar.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
Match the following Himalayan rivers with their alternate names or key features:
List I (River in India) — List II (Name/Feature)
A.Gandak — 1. Narayani (in Nepal)
B.Kosi — 2. Sorrow of Bihar
C.Ghaghara — 3. Joins Ganga at Chhapra
D.Gomati — 4. Joins Ganga near Varanasi
Select the correct match:
Consider the following statements about Bihar's flood vulnerability:
1.Bihar's Disaster Management Department has declared 29 of its 38 districts as flood-prone.
2.All flood-prone districts in Bihar are located in north Bihar.
3.The simultaneous occurrence of floods in one part of Bihar and drought-like conditions in another is a documented planning challenge.
How many of the above statements are correct?
With reference to the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015–2030, consider the following statements:
1.It was adopted under the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR).
2.It prioritises reactive relief and recovery over proactive risk reduction.
3.India is a signatory to the Sendai Framework.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
Which of the following correctly describes the unit 'cusec' as used in Indian flood and water management?
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