200 rescued in flood-hit Arunachal, Assam
Flood alert in Meghalaya
As many as 19 people were airlifted by the Air Force from a flooded Arunachal Pradesh island on Friday and over 200 others rescued from Assam's Dhemaji district as Siang river, which originates in China, continued to swell due to rains in that country, officials said.
A flood alert was sounded in three Meghalaya districts too.
Siang river, which originates in Tibet and is known as Tsangpo in China, joins Lohit and Dibang rivers downstream to form the Brahmaputra in Assam.
The 19 rescued people - cattle-herders from Assam -- were stranded for over 24 hours in East Siang district of Arunachal Pradesh and the IAF operation followed a request by the district administration, its deputy commissioner Tamiyo Tatak said.
Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Pema Khandu personally monitored the evacuation operations from Itanagar, he said, adding Lok Sabha MP Ninong Ering and Pasighat West MLA Tatung Jamoh along with police and locals helped in rescuing the cattle.
The rest, who were rescued by personnel of National Disaster Response Force and Assam State Disaster Response Force, had gone to Dhemaji adjacent to East Siang for farming.
All 200 of them, including children, have been brought to safety, sources in Dhemaji administration said.
According to a Chinese government report, Tsangpo was in spate because of heavy rains. The various gauge and discharge stations on the Tsangpo had observed a discharge of 9,020 cumec water on Wednesday, official sources there said.
In Meghalaya, the deputy commissioners of West Garo Hills, North Garo Hills and South West Garo Hills have been alerted and asked to keep the disaster management teams ready for any emergency situation in the next 24 hours, official said.