Assam reels under flood fury; 19 lakh affected

Guwahati: Assam continued to be ravaged by flood on Friday as an estimated 19 lakh people were affected in the state due to heavy rainfall and swelling of rivers triggered by incessant rains in upper catchment areas of Arunachal Pradesh and Bhutan.

The worst affected districts are Lakhimpur, Golaghat, Bongaigaon, Jorhat, Dhemaji, Barpeta, Goalpara, Dhubri, Darrang, Morigaon and Sonitpur, Assam State Disaster Management Authority (ASDMA) said.

The other affected districts are Sivsagar, Kokrajhar, Dibrugarh, Goalpara, Tinsukia, Biswanath, Nalbari, Baksa, Udalgluri, Kamrup (M), Chirang, Kamrup and South Kamrup, the ASDMA said.

The Brahmaputra is flowing above the danger mark at Guwahati, Nematighat in Jorhat, Tezpur in Sonitpur, Goalpara and Dhubri towns.

To provide succor to the affected people, relief has been distributed as per requirement in all the flood affected districts and funds for providing relief have been placed with the district administrations in advance.

NDRF, SDRF and the army are helping the district administration in evacuating the affected population to safe places. A total of 19 lakh people were directly of indirectly affected by floods.

State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) teams with deep divers have also been attached to the 27 Fire Stations of the State.

Meanwhile, eight rhino cubs displaced and separated from their mothers were rescued by Kaziranga National Park and Centre of Wildlife Rehabilitation and Conservation (CWRC) team.