Floods wreak havoc across Assam
Nearly 5,00,000 people have been hit by floods in Assam as heavy to very heavy rainfall over the past four days have caused deaths, landslides, blockade of highways, erosion of embankments and damaged roads and bridges at several areas across the northeastern state.
Twenty-seven people have been killed in Assam and several areas in 15 of the state’s 28 districts in both the Brahmaputra and Barak valleys are reeling under floods.
According to official figures, nearly 1,100 villages are inundated, around 18,000 people have taken shelter in 181 relief camps, crops damaged in over 41,000 hectares of land, and close to 2,00,000 animals, including poultry, are affected.
According to an alert issued by the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) on Monday, heavy to very heavy rainfall would continue at several places in Assam, Sikkim, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram and Tripura.
The Brahmaputra was flowing above the danger level at Dibrugarh, Nimatighat, Tezpur, Goalpara and Dhubri on Sunday.
While Siang, Dhansiri, Dikhow, Jia Bhoroli and Kushiyara crossed the danger level at five places.
The Brahmaputra and other rivers like Jia Bhoroli, Dikhow, Chirang and Beki and expected to flow in “moderate to high flood situation” in Dibrugarh, Jorhat, Sonitpur, Goalpara, Dhubri, Lakhimpur, Chirang, Kokrajhar, Barpeta, Morigaon, Kamrup and Sibsagar districts in the next two days.
Flood water is flowing over several roads in the state and also inundated vast areas of national parks and sanctuaries, including the famed Kaziranga National Park, home to two-thirds of the world’s endangered one-horned rhinoceroses, forcing wild animals to flee to higher areas and leaving them vulnerable to poaching.
“There could be more water logging in the next few days. Our staff has been alerted and we request help from local residents to save the wild animals,” appealed forest minister Pramila Rani Brahma on Monday morning after taking stock at Kaziranga National Park.