Incessant rain creates flooding in several parts of Assam; nearly 33,500 people hit

Guwahati, Jun 19 (PTI) The flood condition in Assam remained grim on Monday with overnight heavy rainfall across several parts of the state, inundating villages, towns and farmlands.

The India Meteorological Department has issued a ‘Red Alert’ and predicted ‘very heavy’ to ‘extremely heavy’ rainfall across several districts of Assam till Thursday.

IMD’s Regional Meteorological Centre (RMC) in Guwahati has issued a ‘Red Alert’ with prediction of “Heavy (7-11 cm in 24 hours) to Very Heavy (11-20 cm in 24 hours) with extremely heavy rainfall (over 20 cm in 24 hours)” over Lower Assam districts of Kokrajhar, Chirang, Baksa, Barpeta and Bongaigaon.

During the same period, “heavy to very heavy” rainfall is very likely over Dhubri, Kamrup, Kamrup Metropolitan, Nalbari, Dima Hasao, Cachar, Goalpara and Karimganj districts, it added.

The RMC has issued an ‘Orange Alert’ for Tuesday, followed by a ‘Yellow Alert’ for the subsequent two days.

‘Red Alert’ signifies taking immediate action, while ‘Orange Alert’ implies to be prepared for action and ‘Yellow Alert’ stands for watch and be updated.

According to the daily flood report of the Assam State Disaster Management Authority (ASDMA), more than 33,400 people are hit due to floods in Cachar, Darrang, Dhemaji, Dibrugarh, Golaghat, Hojai, Lakhimpur, Nagaon, Nalbari, Sonitpur, Tinsukia and Udalguri districts.

Lakhimpur is the worst hit with over 25,200 people affected, followed by Dibrugarh with more than 3,800 people and Tinsukia with almost 2,700 persons, it added.

The administration has been operating one relief camp, where nine people are taking shelter, besides running 16 relief distribution centres in three districts.

At present, 142 villages are under water and 1,510.98 hectares of crop areas have been damaged across Assam, ASDMA said.

Massive erosions have been witnessed in Biswanath, Bongaigaon, Dibrugarh, Kokrajhar, Lakhimpur, Majuli, Morigaon, Nagaon, Sivasagar, Sonitpur, South Salmara and Udalguri districts, it added.

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

Embankments, roads, bridges and other infrastructure have been damaged by flood waters in Sonitpur, Lakhimpur, Cachar, Dhemaji, Goalpara, Nagaon, Udalguri, Chirang, Dibrugarh, Kamrup, Karbi Anglong, Karimganj, Bongaigaon, Majuli, Morigaon, Sivasagar and South Salmara districts.

The Brahmaputra at Neamatighat, while its tributaries Puthimari at NH Road Crossing and Kopili at Kampur are flowing above the danger marks, the report said.