After IMD sounds heavy rain alert, CM cancels leaves of DCs

Guwahati: The India Meteorological Department (IMD) on Sunday warned of heavy rainfall activity over Assam during the next five days, even as CM Himanta Biswa Sarma asked all district deputy commissioners to be alert.
All DCs have been asked to stay in the district headquarters and those on leave have been asked to join duty.
Some of the rivers in lower Assam districts have already started overflowing due to incessant rain after monsoon arrival on Saturday.
“We are expecting some heavy rainfall in the next five days. We don’t know if there will be flooding. But the forecast is of one. So in the next five days, you can expect heavy rainfall,” Sarma alerted the DCs in the video conference from his office chamber in Janata Bhawan here on Sunday.
As Sarma reviewed the flood preparedness, he asked the principal secretary revenue and disaster management Gyanendra Dev Tripathi to take steps for prepositioning of NDRF and SDRF personnel in the vulnerable districts, especially in the hill district of Dima Hasao. He asked the chief secretary to ensure that one NDRF team reaches Dima Hasao by Sunday night, where rain wreaked havoc last year.
In the last 24 hours, light to moderate rain occurred at most places over Arunachal, Assam, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Mizoram and Tripura and at many places over Manipur with isolated heavy to very heavy rainfall over Arunachal, Assam, Meghalaya and Nagaland. Heavy rainfall over Mizoram was recorded in the last 24 hours, IMD said.