Flash flood sweeps away one in Assam’s Sonitpur
Fear of another bout of floods has been looming, with Assam and other NE states experiencing heavy rainfall in the last 24 hours
Nearly 40,000 people in central Assam’s Sonitpur district were caught unawares in the early hours of Sunday when flash floods suddenly submerged their homes. Thousands of people had to flee their homes leaving everything behind due to the sudden rise in the water level of the Jorakhar river. One person was washed away, officials said.
GUWAHATI/IMPHAL: A flash flood struck north-central Assam in the wee hours of Sunday, less than a fortnight after the state began recovering from the second wave of deluge that claimed more than 150 lives.
Officials in Sonitpur district said the flood affected about 40,000 people, while one person who was washed away reportedly drowned.
“The water level of river Jorakhar, which originates in Arunachal Pradesh, suddenly started rising at about 3am. Several areas in Balipara town and parts of a highway was under waist-deep water,” Surjya Kama Borah, circle officer of Chariduar, said.
Nearly three dozen villages in Chariduar circle were inundated too, forcing thousands to flee their homes.
Since there wasn’t heavy rainfall in the area, officials attributed the flash flood to possible landslides or damage to sluice gates in neighbouring Arunachal Pradesh.
The area had witnessed similar flooding in June this year following few hours of heavy rainfall and rise in water levels of Mansiri and Jorakhar rivers.
The fear of another bout of floods has been looming large with Assam and other north-eastern states experiencing heavy rainfall in the last 24 hours. The rain in Manipur has been of lesser intensity, but officials there have begun assessing the losses of the floods in August.
Disaster management officials in Imphal said this year’s flood has pegged the state back by ₹358.23-crore with 25 people having died and 78,677 hectares of agricultural land damaged.
Among the affected farmers is LS Ngaonii, 65, of Sorbung village in Manipur’s Senapati district.
“These parts never witnessed nature’s fury of such intensity in 30-40 years,” said the farmer who produces 8,250kg of rice in favourable climatic conditions.
Sorbung, 90km north of Imphal, had experienced heavy rainfall and mudslide on August 30.
Such has been the extent of damage that villagers feel it will take three-four years to rejuvenate the farmlands unless the government provides help.
Officials of the Manipur directorate of environment attributed the unusually high average rainfall to climate change.
The state received 1,668.5mm rainfall from February-August, which is considerably higher than the average annual mark of 1,500mm.
Chief minister N Biren said the state’s hills in particular have suffered from deforestation, besides conditions influenced by climate change.