Assam flood: Death toll rises to 25, 6.5 lakh hit

Guwahati, May 24 dmanewsdesk:  The flood situation in Assam has slightly abated even though the death toll rose to 25 as one more person died and over 6.5 lakh people remained affected by the deluge across 22 districts, an official bulletin said.

According to the daily flood report of the Assam State Disaster Management Authority (ASDMA), one person in Silchar of Cachar district was lost to floodwaters.

With this, the total number of people losing their lives in this year’s flood and landslides has gone up to 25 across the state, it said on Monday.

ASDMA said more than 6,50,400 people are hit due to floods in Barpeta, Cachar, Darrang, Dhubri, Dibrugarh, Dima Hasao, Goalpara, Golaghat, Hailakandi, Hojai, Jorhat, Kamrup, Kamrup Metropolitan, Karbi Anglong West, Karimganj, Lakhimpur, Majuli, Morigaon, Nagaon, Nalbari, Sonitpur and Udalguri districts.

Nagaon is the worst hit district with over 3.51 lakh people in distress, followed by Cachar (nearly two lakh people) and Hojai (more than 44,500 people).

Till Saturday, over 7.2 lakh people were affected by the deluge across 22 districts in the state.

At present, 1,709 villages are under water and 82,503 hectares of crop areas have been damaged across Assam, ASDMA said.

It further said authorities are running 656 relief camps and distribution centres in eight districts, where 90,597 people, including 19,555 children, have taken shelter.

The bulletin said the Army, paramilitary force, National Disaster Response Force, SDRF, civil administration, trained volunteers, and fire & emergency services personnel have evacuated 110 people from various flood-hit areas.

The authorities have distributed 4,278.45 quintals of rice, dal and salt, 2,555.97 litres of mustard oil, 1,232.41 quintals of cattle feed and other flood relief items.

Massive erosions have been witnessed in Barpeta, Biswanath, Dhubri, Dibrugarh, Goalpara, Golaghat, Nalbari, Sivasagar, Sonitpur, Tinsukia and Udalguri districts.

Embankments, roads, bridges and other infrastructure have been damaged by floodwaters in Nagaon, Barpeta, Cachar, Darrang, Dhubri, Goalpara, Karimganj, Morigaon, Nalbari, Sonitpur, Hojai and Udalguri, ASDMA said.

A total of 2,27,529 domestic animals and poultry have been affected in the deluge across nine districts, ASDMA said.

Brahmaputra’s tributary Kopili at Dharamtul and Kampur are flowing above the danger marks, the bulletin stated.

Source; PTI