Floods in Assam have claimed the 16th human life since May 22 as the rising water level displaced more than 2.52 lakh people across 16 districts on Friday.
Incessant heavy rain for almost a week also hit operations to cap the blowout well of Oil India Limited (OIL) in eastern Assam’s Tinsukia district.
Officials of the Assam State Disaster Management Authority (ASDMA) said a person drowned in Tengakhat area of Dibrugarh early on Friday morning, taking the death toll to 37. Of these, 16 died by drowning while landslips buried 21.
“The number of flood-hit districts almost doubled from nine to 16 overnight. So far, 2,52,661 people have been displaced and 18,234 of them have taken refuge in relief camps across five districts,” an ASDMA spokesperson said, adding that social distancing was being maintained in these camps due to COVID-19 restrictions.
Dhemaji continued to be the worst affected district followed by Tinsukia, Majuli and Dibrugarh. The other flood-hit districts are Baksa, Barpeta, Biswanath, Darrang, Golaghat, Jorhat, Kokrajhar, Lakhimpur, Nagaon, Nalbari, Sivasagar and Udalguri.
Eight rivers including the Brahmaputra have been flowing above the danger level, threatening to inundate more areas, officials said.
“Crops on 11,765.27 hectares across 704 villages have been affected. More than 1.62 lakh livestock and fowls have been affected too,” the spokesperson said.
Landslip in Guwahati
Heavy rain also caused landslip in Guwahati. Two persons were injured after two houses collapsed in the city’s Kahilipara area.
In Tinsukia’s Baghjan area, where one of OIL’s wells had a blowout, operations for capping it had to be virtually abandoned.
Bridge collapse
“A large part of the area is inundated and the levels of all the rivers are rising. And while a bridge on one of the access roads collapsed on June 24, the condition of another bridge on an alternative road is deteriorating,” an OIL spokesperson said.
“We are in touch with the Army for constructing a Bailey bridge for transporting men and material to and from the Baghjan site,” he added.
Heavy rain has affected the survey for assessing the damage toward compensating the people affected by the blowout, Tinsukia district officials said. Assessment of 530 families has been completed so far.