The flood situation has further worsened in India’s northeastern state of Assam, which borders Bangladesh. At least 21 people have died in various incidents due to floods in the last 24 hours. In the last one week, the death toll in the state has increased to 31.
The Assam State Disaster Management Authority (ASDMA) informed this information in a bulletin published on Tuesday night.
According to the agency, the previous bulletin issued on July 20 had confirmed the death of 10 people in the flood. The total death toll rose to 31 with 21 more deaths in the last 24 hours.
The situation is deteriorating day by day due to floods that started from mid-July this year. According to the latest ASDMA data, 794 villages in 16 of the 35 districts of the state have been affected by floods.
ASDMA said in its latest bulletin on Monday that at least 362,000 people have been affected or affected by the floods in 794 villages of these 16 districts. The number of villages affected by floods and the number of affected people have both increased in a 24-hour period, Tuesday’s bulletin said. At present 872 villages are submerged in flood water and the number of affected people exceeds 564 thousand 600.
The flood affected districts of Assam are Golaghat, Kamrup, Hojai, Biswanath, Dhemaji, Sanitpur, Udalgiri, Nagaon, Charaideo, Kamrup (Metro), Jorhat, Tinsukia, Karbi Anglong, Lakhimpur and Shivasnagar.
Three districts are most affected – Shivsagarh (affected 3 lakh 59 thousand 535 people), Charaideo (affected 1 lakh 4 thousand 415 people) and Jorhat (affected 50 thousand 987 people).
It is reported that a joint force consisting of National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) under the Assam State Government, Senbahini and firemen has already started work to rescue the people trapped in the areas which are more affected.
Assam Chief Minister Himanta Vishwasharma said in a message posted on social media on Tuesday that he will visit Charaideo, Nazira, Shivasnagaram Sonari, Jorhat and Tiok on Wednesday to monitor rescue and relief operations.
Assam state government’s disaster management authority ASDMA said many residential areas in Upper Assam were inundated with floodwaters, roads were severely damaged and crops of at least 19,100 hectares were submerged under water.
Various media have reported that there has been a serious disruption in the communication system due to the flooding of roads and railway lines. Kopinjal Kishore Sharma, chief public relations officer of the Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) branch of the Central Railway Department of India, said that due to extensive flooding in and around Simaluguri town in Sibsagar district, trains have been suspended on the Simaluguri-Namatiali and Simaluguri-Selenghat sections.
According to ASDMA’s statement, the water of almost all the rivers of Assam, including Brahmaputra, Burhidihing, Disang, Dhansindi, is currently flowing much above the danger level due to continuous rains and landslides. This is why the flood started.
A total of 101 relief camps have been opened under the initiative of ASDMA in various areas of the affected districts. The number of people taking shelter in these relief camps is currently 9,606 people.
TimesBD/ rabbi
