The mighty Ganga swelled and overflowed, inundating over 259 panchayats in 11 districts and affecting around 5.35 lakh population in Bihar.

The development came after heavy rainfall in the neighbouring states and Nepal, and sent chief minister Nitish Kumar on an aerial survey to take stock of the situation on Friday.

Water was still approaching towards fresh areas at the time of writing the report as the Ganga was flowing 0.42 metres to 1.68 metres above the danger level right from Patna to Bhagalpur in the state.

Nitish flew over Patna and Vaishali districts to survey the impact of flood and directed his senior officials to stay alert and make all possible efforts to tackle it.

“A complete vigil should be maintained in the areas where floodwater is spreading. The district magistrates should also constantly monitor the situation, while engineers and senior officials should camp near the affected places,” Nitish said.

The chief minister directed the officials to follow the SOP (standard operation procedure) related to floods and arrange food, accommodation, medicines, and necessary relief material for the affected people and fodder for cattle. Deputy chief minister Samrat Chouhdary, Rajya Sabha member Sanjay Kumar Jha, and a couple of officials accompanied him during the aerial survey.

The district administrations and disaster management authorities are gearing up to tackle the floods and have set up four relief camps and 66 community kitchens for some of the displaced people.