1.33 lakh affected by Assam floods

The flood situation in Assam has started deteriorating after over 1.33 lakh people across 11 districts were affected due to heavy rainfall in northeastern states for the past few days.

The state’s disaster management authority in a bulletin said that the districts affected by floods due to heavy rainfall in catchment areas are Biswanath, Bongaigaon, Chirang, Dhemaji, Dibrugarh, Jorhat, Lakhimpur, Majuli, Sivasagar, Sonitpur and Tinsukia.

Pointing out that so far

243 villages have been affected due to flooding of the Brahmaputra and its tributaries, the authorities said that there was no loss of lives (human or animal) so far.

The state disaster management forces have evacuated 162 people and 40 animals with the help of boats. At least 6,217 people have taken shelter in

66 relief camps set up by the district administrations of Bongaigaon and Chirang. Five camps in Dhemaji district and three more in Tinsukia are on standby.

63,891 people have been affected in Bongaigaon, followed by 31,500 in Dhemaji and 13,239 in Majuli.

Asserting that disaster management authorities are ready for any eventuality, the authorities said that the rising water level of major rivers in most of the affected districts was the area of concern as in several places the rivers are already flowing above the danger mark.

Five medical teams have been deployed, the bulletin said. There are reports that 16 roads have been damaged in Bongaigaon and Dhemaji, although no embankments have been breached so far.

Erosion has also been reported from several places in Baksa, Biswanath, Bongaigaon, Chirang, Goalpara, Cachar, Jorhat, Kokrajhar, Majuli, Morigaon, Nalbari, Sonitpur and Tinsukia districts.

It is significant that Assam government has embarked upon an ambitious project

to prevent floods by diverting water from the Brahmaputra and its tributaries during the monsoon.

“As a pilot project, they have identified certain regions in Dhemaji district where excess water from Brahmaputra River can be diverted during the monsoon,” official sources said.