The flood situation deteriorated in Assam on Thursday with a total of 19 districts of the State still in the grip of deluge that hit the State last week affecting 13,78,540 people and killing at least seven people in last 48 hours.
The Meteorological department has predicted heavy rain till September 7, indicating that the situation might worsen. Out of the three deaths on Thursday, two died in Tinsukia while one died in Dibrugarh district, the officials said. The Assam State Disaster Management Authority (ASDMA) on Thursday said that a total of 2,199 villages are affected by the floods and that a total of 390 villages have been submerged by the deluge in eastern Assam’s Dhemaji district alone.
The Assam Government has deployed several units of the SDRF and NDRF to rescue the marooned people. According to the Government estimate, close to 100 machine boats have been pressed into service to rescue the flood-affected people in nine worst hit districts.
The floods have also severely affected Dibrugarh, Tinsukia, Sonitpur, Morigaon, Barpeta, Nalbari, lakhimpur and Darrang districts in the past 48 hours, submerging large number of villages.
The floods have also led to temporary displacement in the affected districts and over 2,66,000 people are taking shelter in over 385 relief camps opened in 14 out of the total 19 flood-hit districts. Dibrugarh district has the highest 149 numbers of relief camps housing 91,750 people.
The State Water Resources department said that several rivers including the Brahmaputra and its tributaries have been in spate at different locations in the State and added that these rivers are flowing above danger level in many places.
The Assam Government has also suspended all the water transport, cutting off many places with the mainstream areas including the river Island Majuli. The ferry services between the Jorhat and Majuli has been suspended since Wednesday as the Brahmaputra river is flowing above danger level at Nemati Ghat in Jorhat.
The national parks and wildlife sanctuaries including the World heritage site Kaziranga and Manas National parks have been submerged by flood waters, forcing the animals to migrate to higher grounds in adjoining areas.