Six more die in Assam floods, over 5.5 lakh still marooned

GUWAHATI: With six more deaths reported from Cachar and Karimganj districts on Tuesday, the death toll in the first wave of floods in Assam has reached 17 as 5,64,074 people continued to be affected by the deluge in five districts on Tuesday.
While the flood situation has improved in Golaghat and East and West Karbi Anglong districts on Tuesday, Nagaon Hojai, Cachar, Karimganj and Hailakandi districts continued to be affected by floods.

According to Assam State Disaster Management Authority (ASDMA), 727 villages are affected in the flood-hit districts.

Officials said that standing crops on around 4,000 hectares of land have been damaged.

"Two people were reported to have been killed due to flood in Cachar while four others were killed in Karimganj," an ASDMA official said, adding that over 1.5 lakh people have taken shelter in relief camps in Cachar, Karimganj and Hailakandi districts in Barak Valley.

"The National Disaster Rescue Force (NDRF) and State Disaster Rescue Force (SDRF) personnel have been deployed to assist the district administration in carrying out relief and rescue operations.

"Over 9,000 people have been rescued by the NDRF and SDRF forces from Cachar and Hailakandi on Tuesday," said the ASDMA official.

Meanwhile, Northeast Frontier Railway officials said trains would start running in Badapur-Silchar hill section after a track fit certificate was received for running train on the flood-affected Panchgram-Katakhal section near Silchar.

Accordingly, the Silchar-Guwahati Express and the 15943 UP Silchar-Dibrugarh express will start from Silchar on Wednesday as per time table.

Train services in the section, which is the lifeline of people in Assam's Barak Valley, Tripura and Mizoram, were suspended due to landslide in different areas on the stretch.