Thousands homeless as floods hit Northeast
guwahati — Incessant rain in the past 24 hours has wreaked havoc in parts of the northeast, triggering flash floods and rendering thousands of people homeless in Assam, Manipur, Mizoram and Tripura, officials said on Wednesday.
In Assam, as many as 1,48,912 people have been affected in 222 villages under eight revenue circles in the districts of Biswanath, Karbi Anglong West and Karbi Anglong East, Golaghat, Karimganj and Hailakandi, according the Assam State Disaster Management Authority (ASDMA) report issued today.
Karimganj in the Barak Valley remained the worst-hit with the breaching of the Longai river at Nayadhar area. The State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) has so far evacuated 124 people in the district. The authorites have opened 71 relief camps with Karimganj having the highest of 54, followed by Hailakandi 16 and Golaghat one.
In total, 10,710 people have taken shelter in relief camps with Karimganj having the highest at 10,100. The flood situation in the other districts of the state is also being closely monitored, the officials said.
In Tripura, over 3,500 families have been rendered homeless. Though rain stopped this morning, over 500 families have been evacuated to six relief camps in West Tripura’s Sadar sub-division as their homes were submerged.
The water level in Howrah river, which passes through Agartala, was flowing slightly below the danger level at 12 pm, Sub-Divisional Magistrate (SDM) Sadar Tapan Kumar Das said. The Assam-Agartala National Highway, considered to be the lifeline of the state, was opened for vehicular movement after debris were cleared late last night. The road remained cut off for several hours due to land slips at Atharamura hill yesterday.
According to the latest report of the State Emergency Operation Centre (SEOC), over 3,500 families are lodged in 89 relief camps as heavy downpour inundated their houses in some sub-divisions.
In Mizoram, hundreds of people were displaced due to the floods, mudslides and landslides even as waters receded, state disaster management and rehabilitation department officials said.
The situation improved after the rain stopped from Tuesday midnight. Thousands of people were evacuated to safer places as many houses were submerged as the river Khawthlangtuipui in south Mizoram’s Lunglei district and Tlawng river in Aizawl district swelled due to extremely heavy monsoon downpours since Sunday night.
Many places, including Lunglei district, remained cut off from the rest of state due to the landslides which was triggered by heavy rain.
The state government has ordered two-day holiday for educational institutions due to the inclement weather.
In Manipur, several low-lying areas in Imphal East, Imphal West, Thoubal and Bishenpur districts have been inundated, officials said. The General Administration Department had declared a holiday today for all government offices and educational institutions due to the inclement weather conditions. —