Flood condition worsens in Assam, landlsides in Arunachal; 9 killed

PTI

Guwahati/Itanagar/Agartala, May 19

The flood situation in Assam deteriorated on Wednesday with the number of affected increasing to 6.62 lakh in 27 districts and the toll rising to nine with one more person losing his life in Darrang district, an official bulletin said.

Assam State Disaster Management Authority said that at present 1,413 villages are under water and Nagaon is the worst hit district where 2.88 lakh people are reeling under the calamity. In Cachar nearly 1.2 lakh people and in Hojai more than 1.07 lakh people were affected, it said.

The other affected districts are Bajali, Baksa, Barpeta, Biswanath, Bongaigaon, Charaideo, Darrang, Dhemaji, Dibrugarh, Dima Hasao, Goalpara, Hailakandi, Kamrup, Kamrup Metropolitan, Karbi Anglong West, Karimganj, Kokrajhar, Lakhimpur, Majuli, Morigaon, Nalbari, Sonitpur, Tamulpur and Udalguri.

ASDMA said 46160.43 hectares of crop area have been inundated in the current wave of flood and massive erosion was seen in Barpeta, Bongaigaon, Charaideo, Chirang, Darrang, Dhubri, Dibrugarh, Kamrup Metropolitan, Nalbari, Sivasagar, Sonitpur, Tamulpur, Tinsukia and Udalguri districts.

Authorities are running 248 relief camps and distribution centres in 14 districts, where 48,304 people, including 6,911 children, have taken refuge. They have have distributed 2,264.22 quintals of rice, dal and salt, 5,977.48 litres of mustard oil, 2,393.84 quintals of cattle feed and other flood relief items. it said.

Till Tuesday, over 4.03 lakh people were affected in the deluge across 26 districts in the state.

The bulletin stated that the Army, paramilitary force, NDRF, SDRF, civil administration, trained volunteers, fire and emergency services and local people have evacuated 8,066 persons from various flood-hit parts of the state by deploying boats and helicopters.

Fresh landslides have taken place in Hailakandi and the devastated Dima Hasao district, where the local administration has set up many relief camps for the affected people, the bulletin said.

Embankments, roads, bridges and other infrastructure have been damaged by flood waters in Biswanath, Barpeta, Goalpara, Nagaon, Nalbari, Tamulpur, Bajali, Cachar, Darrang, Dhemaji, Lakhimpur, Morigaon, Sonitpur, Udalguri, Dibrugarh and Kamrup, ASDMA said.

A total of 3,07,849 domestic animals and poultry have been affected in the deluge across 13 districts, it added.

Kopili river is flowing above the danger marks at Dharamtul and Kampur, and Disang at Nanglamuraghat, the bulletin stated.

In view of the damages to railway tracks in multiple locations, the Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) has already suspended all trains through Lumding-Badarpur Hill Section to Barak Valley, Tripura, Mizoram and Manipur, and restoration work is on in the damaged areas.

In neighbouring Arunachal Pradesh the incessant rain over the last couple of days triggered landslides and flood-like situation in several districts.

So far four people have died in Itanagar due to landslides while the body of three others, including a woman buried under one on Sunday night is yet to be recovered despite efforts, a police official said.

Torrential rains has led to flooding by Lohit river and its tributaries in Lohit district and is threatening areas like Machuwa camp, Tezu Khola, Jhalukbari and 32 miles, the officials said.

The Lohit District Disaster Management Office (DDMO) has advised people not to venture into Lohit river or any other vulnerable pockets for fishing or any other activities.

Lohit deputy commissioner Marge Sora said that 35 families were shifted to temporary relief camps at Tezu, the district headquarters.

The landslides have hit water supply in the capital complex since Monday night comprising Itanagar, Naharlagun, Nirjuli and Banderdewa areas and hit surface communication between Itanagar and Ziro in Lower Subansiri district via Potin.

Meanwhile, Tripura, which is facing depleting stocks as railway services to the state has been snapped due to the devastating flood in Assam, may transport essential commodities through Bangladesh's Chittagong.

"There has been no confirmation over the restoration of train service through Lumding-Badarpur section in Assam and disruption in train service for a long period will have an adverse impact on the supply of essential items in Tripura. That is why we are planning to bring essentials by using an alternative way - the Haldia- Chittagong-Akhaura-Agartala transhipment route to transport essential items on an emergency basis,” L Darlong, the principal secretary in Tripura transport department said.

He said the state's stock of petrol will only last for eight days and diesel for five, which is a matter of concern.

The Assam-Agartala national highway opened for vehicular movement on Wednesday and IOCL has started sending petrol and diesel to the state in takers from Guwahati and Silchar, Additional secretary in the food and civil supplies department, Tapan Kumar Das said.

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