10 districts affected by first wave of flood in Assam, over 37,000 affected

The flood situation worsened in Assam amid continuous heavy rainfall in various parts of the northeastern state and has affected 37,535 people in 10 districts, Assam State Disaster Management Authority (ASDMA) said.

According to officials, the first wave of floods has affected large parts of Biswanath, Darrang, Dhemaji, Dibrugarh, Hojai, Lakhimpur, Nagaon, Sonitpur, Tinsukia, Udalguri. Further, in cities, urban flooding has been reported in Kamrup Metro, Cachar and Nalbari districts.

The state government has started building shelter camps and several thousands of the affected people have started shifting to these camps. According to experts, the livelihoods of farmers will be majorly affected as over 1,409 hectares of cropland are submerged due to floods.

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Altogether 77 villages have been adversely impacted by floods and 209.67 hectares of crop areas have been damaged across Assam, the ASDMA said.

Meanwhile, one person died in Guwahati after the sidewalls of a sweets-making factory collapsed due to a landslide triggered by incessant rain. The incident took place at Sonali Path of Dhirenpara area in Guwahati on Saturday morning.

The deceased identified as Mukhtar Ali was buried alive and the State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) team recovered his body from the rubble.

Moreover, due to floods and heavy rainfall across the state, several infrastructures like bridges and houses have been damaged in at least nine districts. Road connectivity between Barak Valley and the rest of Assam has temporarily been disconnected due to landslides.

Hundreds of travellers from Cachar, Karimganj and Hailakandi, who attempted to go to Guwahati, came back from the Sonapur area of Meghalaya and road blockades caused by landslides.

Assam minister Parimal Suklabaidya on Tuesday, reviewed the situation as he visited the landslide-affected areas to attend a meeting called by the chief minister.

According to officials, the flood situation in the northeastern state was mainly caused by the rivers flowing above the danger level in different parts. The Brahmaputra is flowing above the danger level at Neamatighat, and Kopili is also flowing above the danger level at Kampur. The second major river, Barak, is inching closer to the danger level, as per reports received from Water Resource Department.

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Due to the rising water in the rivers and continuous rainfall, large areas of farmlands have been inundated and it has left thousands of animals stranded. According to ASDMA, 11,980 animals have been affected by the floods so far.

Silchar and Guwahati are struggling with urban flood and locals are blaming the poor drainage system and lack of maintenance are the reasons for their sufferings.

According to a PTI report, Union health minister Mansukh Mandaviya on Saturday chaired a virtual meeting with central and state agencies to review health preparedness as part of the flood management in Assam.

He has also directed the officials concerned to prepare a flood public health response and action plan with a perspective of health emergencies.

(with PTI inputs