Floods affect thousands in Assam
Heavy rains triggering floods and landslides over the past few days have affected thousands of people in India’s northeastern state of Assam, officials said Tuesday. According to Assam State Disaster Management Authority (ASDMA), the floods have hit 20 districts in the state and affected a population of nearly 200,000. The floods have hit 652 villages in more than a dozen districts, and have claimed five lives.
Assam State, borders Bangladesh and thus has been affected by the heavy rains too. Authorities said Saturday more than 850,000 people in about 3,200 villages have been affected by the floods, triggered by torrential rains that submerged swathes of farmland and damaged thousands of homes.
Nearly 90,000 people have been moved to state-run relief shelters as water levels in rivers run high and large swathes of land remain submerged in most districts.
“Two flood-related deaths were reported in Cachar district, while three fatalities due to landslides were earlier recorded in Dima Hasao district,” an official of ASDMA said.
Officials said flood water has badly affected road communication at many places besides damaging cropland and infrastructure. As per ASDMA, embankments have been breached at 16 locations, while many roads, bridges and houses have been completely or partially damaged. Officials said over 16,645 hectares of cropland have been damaged due to inundation.
“Nearly 33,000 people are now staying at 67 relief camps as district administrations are giving essential food items,” ASDMA said.
The local administration has ordered the suspension of ferry services between Jorhat and Majuli due to an increase in water level.
Officials said National Disaster Response Force and State Disaster Response Force personnel have been pressed into service to carry out rescue operations in the affected districts.
West of Assam, at least 33 people were killed in Bihar state in thunderstorms on Thursday. More than three dozen people were injured in the unseasonal weather events that damaged hundreds of hectares of standing crops and thousands of fruit trees.
Bihar has also suffered an intense heat wave, with temperatures reaching 40 C.
Railway officials are trying to restore the damaged line at the Lumding-Badarpur section in Dima Hasao and re-starting the train services to South Assam, Manipur, Tripura and Mizoram.
