Assam floods claim 5 more lives, nearly 22 lakh affected

GUWAHATI: The flood situation in Assam took a turn for the worse on Monday with five more persons losing their lives in the deluge that has now affected nearly 22 lakh people across 27 districts. Over 60,000 have been rendered homeless.
The deaths were reported from Lakhimpur, Kamrup, Bongaigaon, Golaghat and Sivasagar, taking the death toll to 50 in the state. The total number of people who died in this year's floods and landslides has gone up to 76 in the state.
An Assam State Disaster Management Authority (ASDMA) official said, "The flood situation remains unchanged with several embankments breached due to the incessant rainfall, release of water from Bhutan's and other state's dams and overflowing of rivers inundating fresh areas. The rescue teams are at work. The situation is expected to improve in the next 24 hours."
Almost 22 lakh people across 2,763 villages have now been affected, of whom over 60,000 homeless people have taken shelter in 173 government-run relief camps. Over 1 lakh hectares of croplands are under water.
The teams of 1st battalion of NDRF evacuated 258 villagers and transported them to safer places in Bongaigaon, Kamurp and Golaghat districts and district administrations in the state rescued nearly 20,000 with the help of SDRF and local people..
Over 50 houses were fully damaged and 118 partially damaged on Monday and over 16 lakh animals have been affected. Over 120 animals were completely washed away.
Barpeta is the worst-hit with over 5.44 lakh people suffering, followed by South Salmara with nearly 1.92 lakh people and Dhemaji with more than 1.30 lakh people.
Till Sunday, more than 12.97 lakh people have been hit by the deluge across 24 districts of the state.
According to the Central Water Commission, all major rivers are flowing over the danger level, while there is a severe flood situation at 17 stations and "above normal flood situation" in eight stations.
The Upper Assam to Lower Assam communication via south bank (Bokakhat-Jakhlabondha) snapped due to flood waters along NH-37. "Due to inundation of some portions of NH-37 between Kohora to Bagori, movement of all kinds of vehicles have been prohibited on the flooded stretch of the highway," said a Nagaon district official.
Meanwhile, former Assam chief minister Tarun Gogoi said the flood and erosion have ravaged most of the parts of Assam due to failure of the government to take proper steps and faulty planning.
"Unless the Centre takes up the matter seriously by providing adequate funds and involving experts of international repute, it is not possible for the Assam government to have a permanent solution. Majority of schemes have not been implemented on time and many schemes are yet to be started due to lack of initiative," Gogoi said.