Assam floods: 31 dead, 5.65 lakh affected

Thirty-one people lost their lives and nearly 5.65 lakh were affected by floods in Assam for the past two days, with incessant rain across several districts deteriorating the overall situation on Wednesday, officials said.

Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma visited several flood-affected areas in Upper Assam districts and interacted with the victims, and announced an ex-gratia of Rs 4 lakh to the relatives of each deceased.

“There has been extensive damage caused by the floods. I have assured the affected families that they are not alone in this crisis. Our Government is standing with them in every step of rehabilitation and rebuilding of livelihoods,” he told reporters in Sivasagar.

On complaints of not receiving relief items by a large section of the affected people, Sarma said that there have been difficulties in providing relief materials in villages which are under water.

“There is no road or any mode of communication to reach out to those people who are still in their homes. The administration accepts that. We have not been able to reach many places. As and when floodwaters recede, we will be able to reach such localities. We also cannot airdrop relief items now. We are trying our best to reduce the people’s difficulties,” the Chief Minister said.

The CM, however, said that for all those who have managed to reach the relief camps, there is no shortage or issue in distributing relief items. “We will immediately give a relief of government 4 lakh to the relatives or families of every deceased. I will also try to help them in future.”

According to the Assam State Disaster Management Authority (ASDMA), 21 people have lost their lives in the deluge during the last 24 hours.

Thirteen people, including four women and two children, drowned in floodwaters in the Sivasagar district, followed by five, including two children, in Charaideo, two in Golaghat, and one woman in Jorhat, it added.

According to the authority’s daily flood report issued at midnight on Tuesday, more than 5,64,600 people have been affected in Biswanath, Charaideo, Dhemaji, Dibrugarh, Golaghat, Jorhat, Kamrup, Kamrup Metropolitan, Karbi Anglong, Nagaon, Sivasagar and Tinsukia districts.

Sivasagar is the worst-hit district with nearly 3.6 lakh people affected, followed by Jorhat with almost 88,000 and Charaideo with more than 72,500 reeling under floodwaters.

The India Meteorological Department has issued a ‘yellow alert’ for Assam and predicted thunderstorms and heavy rains at isolated places over the next four days.

IMD’s Regional Meteorological Centre (RMC) in Guwahati said that the upper air cyclonic circulation over Central Assam and adjoining Nagaland between 1.5 and 3.1 km above mean sea level has become less marked.

Sarma said he interacted with the people at one of the relief camps set up in Charaideo to take stock of their situation and assured them that people with serious illness or who are immobile will be shifted to hospitals.

“Medical teams and all essential services are in place. I assured every family that we will stand by them through relief, rehabilitation and recovery,” he added. Multiple agencies, like the Army, NDRF, SDRF, Fire & Emergency Service, police and civil agencies, have rescued more than 6,000 people from different parts of Charaideo, Golaghat, Jorhat and Sivasagar, it added.

At present, 872 villages are under water, and 24,210.35 hectares of crop areas have been damaged across Assam, the ASDMA said.

At present, the Brahmaputra River is flowing above the danger mark at Neamatighat, while its tributaries Buridihing at Khowang and Dhansiri at Golaghat and Numaligarh are also flowing above the danger level.

On the other hand, the Dikhou river at Sivasagar and the Disang river at Nanglamuraghat are flowing above the highest flood level, the ASDMA said.

On account of widespread flooding, 1,85,029 domestic animals and poultry are affected across the state.