The flood situation in Bihar and West Bengal continues to be grim as waters from the overflowing rivers in Nepal sweep south, while there has been a slight improvement in Assam.
Nearly one crore people have been affected by the floods in Bihar that have claimed 119 lives so far, an official said on Friday. The Bihar disaster management department official said over 98 lakh people in 1,532 panchayats under 139 blocks in 16 districts have been hit with thousands of huts washed away, buildings and roads damaged and standing crops worth crores submerged.
According to the official, 4,08,903 people have been evacuated by the Army, NDRF, SDRF and other rescue teams in the last four days. The State government has set up 1,238 relief camps housing 310,041 people in the flood-hit districts.
Respite from rain
Though rain has let up in West Bengal, about 400 villages in Malda district are facing massive waterlogging with the Mahananda, Fulhar and Purnarbhaba river overflowing.
Speaking to The Hindu on Friday, Irrigation Minister Rajib Banerjee said, “Malda has become our main concern now. Due to the flood waters from Nepal and Bihar, the Mahananda river is already flowing above the extreme danger level and the water level is expected to rise.”
“Currently there are about 70,000 people in 116 relief shelters in the district,” district magistrate of Malda Kaushik Bhattacharya said. According to district officials at least eight lakh people have been affected. Twelve teams from two battalions of the NDRF have been deployed in Malda, Uttar and South Dinajpur districts.
Assam toll rises
With 11 more deaths on Friday, the death toll in the second phase of floods in Assam has gone up to 60 since August 10 even as the authorities said there were some “signs of improvement” in the overall situation.
According to a report by the Assam State Disaster Management Authority (ASDMA), 25.93 lakh people were affected by the floods in the State. Morigaon was the worst-hit district with 5.29 lakh affected people, followed by Dhubri with 4.76 lakh people. As many as 2,210 villages were under water, it said.
7 rhinos dead
Over 140 animals including seven rhinos and two elephants have perished in the second wave of floods in Assam that inundated 80% of the the Kaziranga National Park Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) Rohini Ballav Saikia said here on Thursday.
(With inputs from PTI & IANS)