Flood situation better in Assam, 2 more dead, 5.8 lakh still reeling

A villager uses a boat to move from a flood-affected village to a safer place after heavy rain, in Morigaon district. Credit: PTI Photo

The flood situation in Assam improved further on Tuesday even as two more persons lost their lives and over 5.8 lakh people remained affected by the deluge across 17 districts, an official bulletin said. With the death of the two people, the toll in the ongoing flood and landslides in the state has climbed to 26.

According to the daily flood report of the Assam State Disaster Management Authority (ASDMA), one person each died at Kampur in Nagaon and Udharbond in Cachar districts.

ASDMA said more than 5,80,100 persons are still affected by the flood in Cachar, Darrang, Dima Hasao, Goalpara, Golaghat, Hailakandi, Hojai, Jorhat, Kamrup, Kamrup Metropolitan, Karbi Anglong West, Karimganj, Lakhimpur, Morigaon, Nagaon, Nalbari and Sonitpur districts.

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Nagaon is the worst hit with over 3.46 lakh people suffering, followed by Cachar with nearly 1.78 lakh persons and Morigaon with more than 40,900 people.

Till Saturday over 6.5 lakh people were affected in the deluge across 22 districts in the state. ASDMA in a separate press release said that a six-member inter-ministerial central team led by Ravinesh Kumar of National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) will on May 27 and 28 visit Cachar, Dima Hasao, Darrang, Nagaon and Hojai districts to assess the extent of loss caused by flood and landslides.

At present, 1,374 villages are under water and 64,098.92 hectares of crop areas have been damaged across Assam, ASDMA said.

Massive erosions have been witnessed in Barpeta, Biswanath, Dhubri, Karimganj, Nalbari, Sivasagar, Sonitpur, Tinsukia and Udalguri districts, the ASDMA said. Brahmputra's tributary Kopili is flowing above the danger mark at Dharamtul and Kampur. Embankments, roads, bridges and other infrastructure have been damaged by flood waters in Barpeta, Nalbari, Dibrugarh, Cachar, Dima Hasao, Goalpara, Hailakandi, Hoja, Karimganj, Morigaon, Nagaon and Udalguri, it said.

A total of 3,09,406 domestic animals and poultry have been affected in the deluge across nine districts, ASDMA said. Authorities are running 528 relief camps and distribution centres in 12 districts where 81,712 people, including 18,107 children, have taken shelter, it said. They have distributed 1,457.41 quintals of rice, dal and salt, 6,747.07 litres of mustard oil, 9,161.8 quintals of cattle feed and other flood relief items. To cope up with the current flood and landslide situation, 20 mega phones have been provided to Barak Valley districts for emergency communication purposes, the ASDMA bulletin added.