Twenty-one more people lost their lives and nearly 5.65 lakh were affected by floods in Assam with incessant rain across several districts deteriorating the overall situation on Wednesday, officials said.
According to the Assam State Disaster Management Authority’s (ASDMA) daily flood report issued at midnight on Tuesday, more than 5,64,600 people have been hit by the deluge in Biswanath, Charaideo, Dhemaji, Dibrugarh, Golaghat, Jorhat, Kamrup, Kamrup Metropolitan, Karbi Anglong, Nagaon, Sivasagar and Tinsukia districts.
Thirteen people, including four women and two children, drowned in floodwaters in the Sivasagar district, followed by five, including two children, in Charaideo, two in Golaghat, and one woman in Jorhat in the last 24 hours, it added.
With these fatalities, the total number of deaths in this year’s floods has increased to 31.
The India Meteorological Department has issued a ‘yellow alert’ for Assam and predicted thunderstorms and heavy rains at isolated places over the next four days.
The ‘yellow alert’ of the IMD stands for watch and be updated.
IMD’s Regional Meteorological Centre (RMC) in Guwahati said that the upper air cyclonic circulation over Central Assam and adjoining Nagaland between 1.5 and 3.1 km above mean sea level has become less marked.
At present, the Brahmaputra river is flowing above the danger mark at Neamatighat, while its tributaries Buridihing at Khowang, and Dhansiri at Golaghat and Numaligarh are also above the danger level.
On the other hand, the Dikhou river at Sivasagar and Disang river at Nanglamuraghat are flowing above the highest flood level, the ASDMA said.
Sivasagar is the worst-hit district with nearly 3.6 lakh people affected, followed by Jorhat with almost 88,000 and Charaideo with more than 72,500 reeling under floodwaters.
The flood situation has worsened significantly since Monday night, when nearly 3.63 lakh people were affected across 15 districts.
The ASDMA said the administration has been operating 273 relief camps and relief distribution centres in 10 districts, taking care of 12,284 displaced people at present.
Multiple agencies, like the Army, NDRF, SDRF, Fire & Emergency Service, police and civil agencies, have rescued more than 6,000 people from different parts of Charaideo, Golaghat, Jorhat and Sivasagar, the report added.
The authority has distributed 5,011.07 quintals of rice, 956.53 quintals of dal, 265.18 quintals of salt and 20,115.42 litres of mustard oil among the flood victims during the last 24 hours.
At present, 872 villages are under water, and 24,210.35 hectares of crop areas have been damaged across Assam, the ASDMA said.
Embankments, roads, bridges and other infrastructure have been damaged by floodwaters in different districts of the state.
On account of widespread flooding, 1,85,029 domestic animals and poultry are affected across the state.
