Recent Assam floods worst ever, has highest ever casualties, says CM Himanta as toll touches 195

GUWAHATI: The two waves of the floods in Assam this year were the worst ever in the state in terms of human casualties, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said on Saturday.

“I haven’t seen such floods in the state. I was told the number of casualties this year was the highest ever,” he told journalists.

Altogether 195 persons had lost their lives – 19 of them in the rain-induced landslides. Thirty-seven others were reported missing. An estimated 90 lakh people were affected while crop areas damaged were in over 2.40 lakh hectares.

“You can say one/third of the state’s population was affected. As regards cattle, 54,837 of them had died. One positive exception was that the animals at the Kaziranga National Park had not died,” Sarma said.

He said 7,42,250 of the marooned had taken shelter in relief camps and camp-like places. Except for the first day when the priority of the administration was on their evacuation, they did not face any shortage of relief in the camps, he said.

“One lakh people were evacuated. It was a massive and challenging operation,” Sarma said, adding that there was not a single flood-related case of diarrhoea or cholera.

Meanwhile, the state government provided Rs 3,800 each to 1.81 lakh flood-affected families. Similarly, 1.01 lakh students, affected by the deluge, were provided with Rs 1,000 each so they could buy their textbooks.

Sarma said 3,03,930 houses were damaged, 25,670 of them completely. He said the government would rebuild them.

“From July 20-30, the ministers will be in the fields along with officials to verify the damage and identify the beneficiaries. We will spend around Rs 400 crore in rebuilding the houses,” the CM said.

He said the subsequent step would be rebuilding infrastructure which would entail an expenditure of Rs 1,000 crore.

“We are getting extreme cooperation from the Centre. There is no package as such but everything is being done on 90:10 per cent ratio. The Centre is spending 90 per cent,” he added.

GUWAHATI: The two waves of the floods in Assam this year were the worst ever in the state in terms of human casualties, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said on Saturday. “I haven’t seen such floods in the state. I was told the number of casualties this year was the highest ever,” he told journalists. Altogether 195 persons had lost their lives – 19 of them in the rain-induced landslides. Thirty-seven others were reported missing. An estimated 90 lakh people were affected while crop areas damaged were in over 2.40 lakh hectares. “You can say one/third of the state’s population was affected. As regards cattle, 54,837 of them had died. One positive exception was that the animals at the Kaziranga National Park had not died,” Sarma said. He said 7,42,250 of the marooned had taken shelter in relief camps and camp-like places. Except for the first day when the priority of the administration was on their evacuation, they did not face any shortage of relief in the camps, he said. ALSO READ | FIR lodged against TMC MP Mahua Moitra in Assam for 'Gogoi' tweet “One lakh people were evacuated. It was a massive and challenging operation,” Sarma said, adding that there was not a single flood-related case of diarrhoea or cholera. Meanwhile, the state government provided Rs 3,800 each to 1.81 lakh flood-affected families. Similarly, 1.01 lakh students, affected by the deluge, were provided with Rs 1,000 each so they could buy their textbooks. Sarma said 3,03,930 houses were damaged, 25,670 of them completely. He said the government would rebuild them. “From July 20-30, the ministers will be in the fields along with officials to verify the damage and identify the beneficiaries. We will spend around Rs 400 crore in rebuilding the houses,” the CM said. He said the subsequent step would be rebuilding infrastructure which would entail an expenditure of Rs 1,000 crore. “We are getting extreme cooperation from the Centre. There is no package as such but everything is being done on 90:10 per cent ratio. The Centre is spending 90 per cent,” he added.