Rains ease, woes mount for flood-hit

Guwahati/Shillong, July 17

Lakhs of people are stranded by flooding in the North-East with concern growing about food and water supplies even though the impact of heavy, early monsoon rain appeared to be easing, the government said on Wednesday.

More than 47 lakh persons have been displaced in the tea-growing state of Assam, with many thousands making do with only the most meagre food supplies and dirty water.

“We’ve just been surviving on boiled rice for almost seven days now,” said Anamika Das, a mother at Amtola relief camp in Assam’s Lakhimpur district. She said she was having difficulty breastfeeding her baby boy.

Subhas Bania, also sheltering at Amtola, said authorities had made no provision for the supply of drinking water. “We’ve been forced to drink muddy water,” he said.

Assam is frequently swamped by floods when the Brahmaputra river, which flows down from the Himalayas through northeast India and Bangladesh, sweeps over its banks. Water levels on the river and its major tributaries were beginning to fall, although they were still above the danger mark, the government said.

“We’re trying our best to reach out to the affected people in whatever way possible but yes, the situation is indeed very bad,” said Assam’s Social Welfare Minister Pramila Rani Brahma.

Bhabani Das, a village elder in Golaghat, who has been living under a plastic sheet for four days, said the flood had swept away her home. “Where do we go from here?”

Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma has sought assistance from the Centre as floods in West Garo Hills district and parts of Khasi Hills region have affected 1.3 lakh persons in the state. A total of 159 villages with an estimated population of 1.30 lakh people have been affected by the unprecedented floods in the area this year, Deputy Commissioner of West Garo Hills Ram Singh said. — Agencies

Mumbai building rescue op on  

• Personnel from the National Disaster Response Force are still removing the debris of the Kesarbai building that collapsed at Mumbai’s Dongri on Tuesday
• Officials said the toll climbed to 14 with the bodies of four women and three children being recovered from the debris. Nine injured have been admitted to hospital

Over 11,000 rescued: NDRF 

• More than 11,000 persons have been rescued by the National Disaster Response Force from various states, largely from Assam and Bihar, affected by floods 
• Rescuers are ferrying people to safer places and distributing essential supplies like food packets and drinking water in flood-affected areas, an NDRF spokesperson said