Wounds fresh, floods revisit NE
Rail link between region and the rest of the country snapped after railway tracks get damaged; over 20 trains cancelled on Sunday
GUWAHATI : Heavy rainfall since Thursday resulted in flooding across 21 of Assam’s 33 districts, claiming 15 lives – 10 in the past 24 hours – and affecting more than 22 lakh people.
Floods also affected normal life in Tripura, forcing 9,917 families to take shelter in 75 relief camps. An 11-year-old girl drowned in state capital Agartala, while another person was electrocuted elsewhere. Assam chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal termed the second wave of deluge since July as the “worst floods in decades”. The first wave had claimed 84 lives in Assam and another 62 across Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Mizoram and Nagaland between May and July.
With Saturday’s casualties, the death toll since May has touched 161. In an emergency meeting on Sunday, the Assam government asked the Army to help with the rescue and relief operations and put Indian Air Force choppers on standby.
Additional personnel of national and state disaster response forces were deployed in the affected districts to rescue marooned people.
According to Assam State Disaster Management Authority (ASDMA), more than 1.83 lakh people displaced in the recent floods are taking shelter in 678 relief camps across the state.
The Brahmaputra is flowing above the danger level at Neematighat, Tezpur, Guwahati, Goalpara and Dhubri. Ten other rivers across the state are also flowing above the red mark at one place each. “Flood waters have submerged 2,734 villages and more than 1.34 lakh hectare of crop area affected. Erosion and breaches of embankments have been reported in 11 districts,” an ASDMA officer said.
Parts of the national highway 37 connecting western and eastern Assam got submerged at Jakhalabandha, 175 km east of Guwahati, on Sunday morning disrupting movement of vehicles for several hours.
Rail link between northeast and the rest of the country also snapped on Sunday after railway tracks got submerged or damaged at several places in Assam and West Bengal due to flooding.
“A number of trains had to be stopped at various stations, and many other trains had to be cancelled or rescheduled or shortterminated,” Pranav Jyoti Sharma, spokesperson of Northeast Frontier Railway said.
Railway authorities cancelled 20 trains on Sunday causing distress to thousands of passengers.
FLOOD HELPLINE IN TRIPURA
Tripura chief minister Manik Sarkar and revenue minister Badal Choudhury visited floodprone areas on the banks of river Haora on Saturday and ordered officials to monitor the situation.
The Bharatiya Janata Party, however, was not convinced with the efforts and accused the state government of selectively providing relief material to victims in camps run by the CPI(M) cadre. It also announced a 24x7 flood helpline.
AT LEAST 21 OF 33 DISTRICTS OF ASSAM AFFECTED. NEARLY 3,000 VILLAGES SUBMERGED AND MORE THAN 1.34 LAKH HECTARE OF CROPS DESTROYED