Downpours bring floods, mudslides to northeast

GAUHATI, India — Raintriggered floods and mudslides have left a trail of destruction across northeastern India, killing at least a dozen people and affecting over a million, officials said Saturday.

Two schoolchildren were killed and several others injured earlier in the week near the town of Tawang when a wall from their boarding school collapsed as they were sleeping. Tawang, located in Arunachal Pradesh state, is perched at an altitude of 9,500 feet.

Also in Arunachal Pradesh, a 36yearold woman was swept away and three other people were killed when their car skidded and fell into a gorge. Six others were killed in neighboring Assam state.

“My appeal to people is to be on alert and those living in lowlands should move to safer higher grounds,” said Pema Khandu, chief minister of Arunachal Pradesh, the state closest to China’s Tibet region.

Arunachal Pradesh’s home minister, Bamang Felix, said disaster management agencies as well as police and paramilitary officers have been put on alert, and residents have been advised to avoid unnecessary travel.

Assam’s State Disaster Response Authority said around 900,000 people spread over 21 of the state’s 33 districts have had their homes submerged. Several thousands are living in governmentrun relief camps in the state.

Elsewhere in Assam, Kaziranga National Park, home to the endangered onehorn rhinoceros, has been flooded. The park is located 140 miles east of Gauhati, the state capital.

“The rhinos and other animals are taking shelter in artificially created higher ground or have crossed the highway to higher areas,” said Jukti Borak, a park official.

Authorities have prohibited vehicles from speeding on the highway that runs along the park.

Hydrologists and conservationists expressed grave concern over the situation.

“In the end, this is a clear case of climate change impacting on our ecosystem,” said Nayan Sharma, a prominent hydrologist and professor at the Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee.

Wasbir Hussain is an Associated Press writer.

Biju Boro / AFP / Getty Images A woman searches for her belongings near the debris of her house after flooding in the village of Kasuarbori, in the northeastern state of Assam.