Assam floods situation worsens; over 22 lakh people affected in 27 districts

DISPUR: The floods situation in Assam has worsened drastically with over 22 lakh people affected in 23 districts, state officials said on Tuesday. On Monday, six more people lost their lives in the deluge, which has affected nearly 22 lakh people across 27 districts, an official bulletin said. The death toll due to floods has risen to 50.

Several teams of the National Disaster Response Force, and State Disaster Response Force personnel, along with the local administration, are continuously working to rescue the affected people and render relief services, including distribution of relief material to the marooned villagers.

NDRF, SDRF, district administrations and local people have rescued 19,548 people during the last 24 hours by deploying 98 boats across the state.

According to the daily flood report of the Assam State Disaster Management Authority (ASDMA), one person each died in Nowboicha of Lakhimpur, Bajali of Barpeta, Manikpur of Bongaigaon, Rangia of Kamrup, Bokakhat of Golaghat and Sivasagar town of Sivasagar districts.

The ASDMA said out of the 27 districts, the worst affected 20 districts are Dhemaji, Udalguri, Biswanath, Sonitpur, Baksa, Lakhimpur, Chirang, Barpeta, Bongaigaon, Kokrajhar, Goalpara, Kamrup, Golaghat, Jorhat, Sivasagar, Majuli, Dibrugarh, West Karbi Anglong, Karbi Anglong and Tinsukia.

Barpeta is the worst-hit district with over 5.44 lakh people affected, followed by 1.92 lakh in South Salmara and 1.30 lakh in Dhemaji.

Floodwaters have inundated 2,763 villages affecting around 22 lakh people and 103,806 hectares of crop area in 27 districts. The ASDMA officials said that the district administrations have set up 480 relief camps and distribution centres in 20 districts, where around 61,000 people have taken shelter.

Besides several other rivers, the mighty Brahmaputra is flowing above the danger mark in several districts, an ASDMA bulletin said.

Embankments, roads, bridges, culverts and other infrastructure have been damaged at various places in 18 districts, the ASDMA officials said adding that several hundred houses were fully or partially damaged due to the floods.

Meanwhile, with several rivers in many northeastern states are in spate due to constant monsoon rain, huge low-lying areas in the other states of the region were inundated on Sunday even as the Meteorological Department forecast more showers in the next couple of days.