5 lakh people hit, 3.5 lakh animals affected in Assam floods

The flood situation in Assam deteriorated drastically on Thursday with one person losing his life and nearly five lakh people reeling under the deluge across 12 districts, an official bulletin said.

According to the daily flood report of the Assam State Disaster Management Authority (ASDMA), one person died due to flooding in Tamulpur of Udalguri district.

This is the first official record of death on account of flood this year, an ASDMA official said.

The report said over 4,95,700 people are hit due to the floods in Baksa, Barpeta, Chirang, Darrang, Dhubri, Dibrugarh, Kamrup, Kokrajhar, Lakhimpur, Nalbari, Sonitpur and Udalguri districts.

Barpeta is the worst hit with over 3,25,600 people suffering, followed by Nalbari with more than 77,700 people and Lakhimpur with around 25,700 people suffering, it added.

Till Wednesday, nearly 1.2 lakh people were suffering from floods across 10 districts of the state.

The administration has been operating 83 relief camps in seven districts, where 14,035 persons have taken shelter, and running 79 relief distribution centres in eight districts.

Paramilitary forces, NDRF, SDRF, Fire and Emergency Services (F&ES), civil administration, NGOs and locals have rescued 561 persons from different places.

The administration has distributed 1,265 quintals of rice, dal, salt and 5,269.80 litres of mustard oil among the flood victims during the last 24 hours.

At present, 1,366 villages are under water and 14,091.90 hectares of crop areas have been damaged across Assam, the ASDMA said.

Massive erosions have been witnessed in Sonitpur, Bongaigaon, Darrang, Dhubri, Lakhimpur, Morigaon, Nalbari, South Salmara and Udalguri, it said.

Places in Bongaigaon and Dima Hasao have reported incidents of landslides due to heavy rainfall.

Embankments, roads, bridges and other infrastructure have been damaged by flood waters in Barpeta, Sonitpur, Darrang, Nalbari, Baksa, Chirang, Dhubri, Kokrajhar, Lakhimpur, Udalguri, Bongaigaon, Dhemaji and Dibrugarh.

Urban areas were inundated at many places across Barpeta, Darrang, Jorhat, Kamrup Metropolitan, and Kokrajhar districts.

The Brahmaputra at Dhubri and Neamatighat, along with its tributaries Beki at Road Bridge, Manas at NH Road Crossing, Pagladiya at NT Road Crossing and Puthimari are flowing above the danger mark, the ASDMA report said.

On account of widespread flooding, more than 3,46,600 domestic animals are affected across the state.