Guwahati:

The flood situation in Assam improved on Monday even though six more people lost their lives and almost 19 lakh people remained affected across 27 districts, an official bulletin said.

According to the daily flood report of the Assam State Disaster Management Authority (ASDMA), one person each died at Bilasipara and Agamoni revenue circles of Dhubri district.

Besides, one person each drowned in flood waters at Balijana of Goalpara, Bokakhat of Golaghat, Demow of Sivasagar and Dhekiajuli of Golaghat, it added.

With this, the total number of people losing their lives in this year’s flood, landslide and storm increased to 85.

The report said more than 18,80,700 people have been affected by the floods.

Dhubri is the worst hit with 4.75 lakh people affected, followed by Cachar with over 2.01 lakh affected people and Barpeta with nearly 1.36 lakh people hit, it added.

Till Sunday, almost 22.75 lakh people were suffering in the flood waters across 27 districts.

The Regional Meteorological Centre (RMC) in Guwahati said that a cyclonic circulation lies over Assam and its neighbourhood, because of which thunderstorms and lightning are very likely at isolated places in Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram and Tripura.

The administration has been operating 543 relief camps and relief distribution centres in 25 districts, taking care of 3,45,500 displaced people at present.

Nearly 350 people have been rescued by civil administration, SDRF, NDRF and emergency services personnel from various parts of the state, the ASDMA said.

The authority has distributed 4,585.71 quintals of rice, 841.14 quintals of dal, 248.98 quintals of salt and 24,113.64 litres of mustard oil among the flood victims of the state during the last 24 hours.

At present, 3,154 villages are under water and 49,014.06 hectares of crop areas have been damaged across Assam, the ASDMA said.

Embankments, roads, bridges and other infrastructure have been damaged by flood waters in various parts of the state.

At present, the mighty Brahmaputra is flowing above the danger mark at Nimatighat, Tezpur, Guwahati, and Dhubri.

Its tributaries Subansiri at Badatighat, Burhidihing at Chenimari, Dikhou at Sivasagar, Disang at Nanglamuraghat, and Kopili at Dharamtul are flowing above the danger levels.

The Barak river is flowing above the danger mark at BP Ghat, while its tributaries Sankosh at Golokganj and Kushiyara at Karimganj town are also flowing above the danger marks, ASDMA said.

On account of widespread flooding, over 15,18,600 domestic animals and poultry have been affected across the state.

A total of 137 wild animals have died so far inside the famed Kaziranga National Park. The toll was at 129 on Sunday.

The dead animals include six rhinos, 123 hog deer, two sambar, a rhesus macaque and an otter, officials said.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Guwahati (Assam):

The flood situation in Assam is critical with a total death toll of 52 and about 21.13 lakh people are affected in 29 districts by the second wave of flood.

According to the flood report of Assam State Disaster Management Authority (ASDMA), 6 people died in the last 24 hours in the state the total death toll has risen to 52.

More than 3.86 lakh people are taking shelter in 515 relief camps and distribution centres set up by the administration in 24 flood-hit districts.

The Assam State Disaster Management Authority said that 11,20,165 animals were also affected by the deluge.

The number of affected villages has risen to 3,208 while devastating floodwaters have resulted in the death of 31 wild animals in Kaziranga National Park and Tiger Reserve (KNP), the field director of KNP said.

According to the reports of Kaziranga National Park authority, 23 hog deer drowned in flood waters while 7 other hog deer died under care.

The flood-affected districts are Goalpara, Nagaon, Nalbari, Kamrup, Morigaon, Dibrugarh, Sonitpur, Lakhimpur, South Salmara, Dhubri, Jorhat, Charaideo, Hojai, Karimganj, Sivasagar, Bongaigaon, Barpeta, Dhemaji, Hailakandi, Golaghat, Darrang, Biswanath, Cachar, Kamrup (M), Tinsukia, Karbi Anglong, Chirang, Karbi Anglong West, Majuli.

According to the Morigaon District Administration, “The flood situation in Assam’s Morigaon district is still grim as more than 55,000 people have been affected by the deluge. Thousands of villagers are now taking shelter on embankments, and roads after the flood waters entered their homes.”

As per the information from the district administration, 194 villages in the district are still submerged in the floodwaters.

Chandini Devi, from the Bhuragaon area in Morigaon district, told ANI that, for the last 4 days her family has been living in a makeshift tent on the embankment.

Dipen Deka, another flood-affected villager, said that this year floods have submerged the area.

“Many people have lost their valuable goods in this flood and household articles were also damaged. We have been living in the floodwaters for the last 4 days. People are facing lots of problems,” Dipen Deka said.

Meanwhile, Assam Agriculture Minister Atul Bora on Thursday visited the flood-affected areas in Morigaon district.

He also interacted with the flood-affected people who are now taking shelter on the embankment in the Bhuragaon area in the Morigaon district.

Atul Bora told ANI that the water level of the Brahmaputra River is receding in the Morigaon district, but the flood situation is still grim.

“As instructed by Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, I came to Morigaon to take stock of the flood situation. The situation is still grim and 28 districts of the state have been affected in this flood. Yesterday we had a meeting of the state cabinet headed by the Chief Minister and he instructed us to visit the flood-affected districts,” he said.

“The Assam CM instructed me to visit Morigaon and Nagaon districts. I discussed this with the district administration and as of today 55,459 people in the district have been affected by the deluge and 194 villages have been affected,” said Atul Bora.

The Assam Agriculture Minister also said that the farmers of the state will not face more damage because this flood comes in July.

Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Thursday visited the flood-affected areas in the state capital and directed the Guwahati Metropolitan Development Authority to take appropriate measures to drain the flood water accumulated there.

The Chief Minister visited the Shiv Mandir sluice gate, BBC Colony from Pandu Port Road, and Pandunath Devalaya sluice gate in the city to take stock of the flood situation.

The area is inundated due to the rising waters of the Brahmaputra River. The Chief Minister, during the visit, took stock of the problems faced by the people and the steps taken to address them.

The Chief Minister inspected the drains along the Pandu Port road and directed the Guwahati Metropolitan Development Authority to take appropriate measures to drain the water accumulated there.

He then visited the sluice gate at BBC Colony on Pandu Port Road and the Pandunath Devalaya sluice gate.

As there is no guard wall at the Pandunath Devalaya sluice gate and due to the flood waters of the Brahmaputra inundated some areas, the Chief Minister directed the Water Resources Department to construct the guard wall as soon as possible.

The Chief Minister said that appropriate steps will be taken to solve the flood problem in these areas and that the water level of the Brahmaputra is expected to decrease from today.

The Indian Army has been actively involved in extensive flood relief operations in the villages of Sivaguri (Dhemaji District, Assam).

In response to the dire situation, the Indian Army has deployed multiple flood relief columns in the affected areas.

Meanwhile, amid a disastrous situation in Assam due to floods, Congress MP Gaurav Gogoi on Thursday alleged that the BJP government is repeatedly giving embankment projects to the same contractors who have built faulty embankments.

“I had said that it is a matter of great concern. I am very concerned and I think the central government should also be concerned. I am aware that Prime Minister Modi talked to the Chief Minister, but I am worried about whether the Chief Minister himself knows the real truth or not. For the last 10 years, we have been seeing that the Jal Shakti Department of the BJP government is repeatedly giving embankment projects to contractors who build broken embankments or are not able to do their work properly while building embankments, but even after that, the same contractor gets work again and again,” Gogoi said.

He also mentioned that the BJP actually does not want a long-term and permanent solution.

“Jal Shakti Department is being used like an ATM here. That is why I said in my speech that the Water Minister from the Centre should come and see how much money is being looted through embankment during the floods in Assam,” the Congress MP said.
 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Guwahati/Dibrugarh:

The flood situation in Assam turned grim on Monday with over 6.44 lakh people affected in 19 districts, an official bulletin said. At least eight rivers were flowing above the danger mark, with the Brahmaputra breaching its highest flood level at Nematighat in Jorhat district, it said.

Multiple agencies, including the NDRF, SDRF, army, air force and local administration, were engaged in rescue operations, the Assam State Disaster Management Authority (ASDMA) bulletin said.

A total of 6,44,128 people are reeling under the deluge, as Kamrup, Golaghat, Majuli, Lakhimpur, Karimganj, Cachar, Dhemaji, Morigaon, Udalguri, Dibrugarh, Tinsukia, Nagaon, Sivasagar, Darrang, Nalbari, Sonitpur, Tamulpur, Biswanath and Jorhat have been inundated by flood waters, it said.

The toll also increased by one, while another person was reported missing.

The death count in this year’s flood, storm and landslides has reached 45 with the latest fatality, the bulletin said.

Lakhimpur remained the worst-hit district with 1,43,983 people reeling under flood waters, followed by Dhemaji (1,01,333) and Cachar (66,195), it said.

Altogether, 8,142 displaced people were taking shelter in 72 relief camps, with another 64 relief distribution centres also functional.

In Dhemaji, nine persons were air-lifted by a helicopter of the air force, while army and paramilitary personnel were engaged in rescue operations in Tinsukia district.

Another 1,293 people were rescued by 64 boats, besides 1,952 animals, from various affected districts, it said.

The major rivers flowing above the danger level are Brahmaputra (Tezpur), Subansiri (Badatighat), Dikhou (Sivasagar), Disang (Nanglamuraghat), Burhidihing (Chenimari and Khowang), Jia-Bharali (Nt Road Crossing), Beki (Road Bridge) and Kushiyara (Karimganj), the bulletin said.

Damage to various infrastructure, including embankments, roads and bridges has also been reported from different parts of the state.

Earlier in the day, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma had said Assam’s flood situation has turned critical following heavy rainfall in neighbouring Arunachal Pradesh.

“The main cause of the current second wave of floods is the incessant and heavy rainfall in the catchment areas of Arunachal Pradesh,” he told a press conference in Guwahati.

“Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah called me and assured of all help to deal with the situation,” Sarma added.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Guwahati:

Assam’s flood situation has turned critical following heavy rainfall in neighbouring Arunachal Pradesh, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said on Monday.

The Brahmaputra and all its tributaries are flowing above the danger level, Mr Sarma said at a press conference here.

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has warned of heavy rainfall for the next two to three days, he said.

“Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah called me and assured of all help to deal with the situation,” the Assam CM said.

The NDRF and Army will be on standby to deal with any emergency, he said.

“All ministers, MLAs and officials have been asked to closely monitor the situation,” he added.

Altogether 2,70,628 people in 14 districts, including Brahmaputra and Barak valleys, are reeling under the deluge, officials said.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)