Three people drowned in as many districts on August 2 as the flood situation in Assam worsened affecting eight of the State’s 33 districts.
The death toll since May — when the first wave of floods hit Assam — has risen to 41 with landslides caused by heavy rainfall having claimed the lives of three people.
Officials of the Assam State Disaster Management Authority (ASDMA) said a person each drowned in Dhemaji, Udalguri and Golaghat districts. These and five other districts have been affected by flash floods and the rising waters of the Brahmaputra and four of its tributaries.
“About 1 lakh people have been affected by the second wave of floods,” an ASDMA official said. Eastern Assam’s Golaghat is the worst-affected district with 54,135 people displaced followed by Sivasagar (17,905) and Lakhimpur (14,052).
Golaghat and Sivasagar district authorities have set up 99 relief camps that are currently housing 20,869 people.
The officials said crops on 5,056.35 hectares has been destroyed across the eight districts.
“Apart from inundation, erosion has been a major problem. At least 68 houses have been destroyed by rivers such as Jia Bharali and Panchnoi in Sonitpur, Udalguri and Barpeta districts,” the ASDMA official said.