Assam floods kill 3, thousands affected

At least three persons have died in the last 24 hours in floods and landslides in Assam and over two lakh people have been affected, officials said on Wednesday.

Two people died due to floods and one person was killed in a landslide here.

The situation is expected to worsen as the meteorological department has predicted more rain in Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Mizoram and Nagaland in the next four days.

Officials of the Assam State Disaster Management Authority on Wednesday said a total of 530 villages in Dhemaji, Lakhimpur, Biswanath, Darrang, Barpeta, Nalbari Chirang, Majuli, Golaghat, Jorhat and Dibrugarh districts have been flooded, affecting some 200,000 people. Dhemaji and Lakhimpur districts are the worst affected. Assam and other states in the region have been witnessing incessant rain since the last 48 hours.

In Assam, the State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) and the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) have been carrying out rescue and evacuation operations as well as providing relief materials to the affected people.

The water level of major rivers like the Brahmaputra, Dikhow, Dhansiri, Jia Bharali, Puthimari and Beki is above the danger mark.

The flood waters from the Brahmaputra have also entered some parts of the Kaziranga National Park, forcing the animals to migrate in search of higher ground.

“The flood waters have entered the park but the situation is under control. We are monitoring the situation closely and will implement the time card system for restricting the speed limit of vehicles on NH-27 as and when necessary,” said Kaziranga Divisional Forest Officer, Rohini Ballav Saikia.

A total of 13,276 hectares of agricultural land has been affected by the floods, officials said.

Separately, development of North Eastern Region Ministry (DoNER) is taking steps on a war-footing to develop five basic sectors including health, education and agriculture, in 14 districts of the northeastern region, an official said on Wednesday.

NITI Aayog had identified these 14 districts in the eight northeastern states in 2018.

The Union government and the respective states would jointly make efforts to improve the five basic sectors in the selected districts.

Indo-Asian News Service