Assam reels under severe flood : Death toll mounts to 104

The current wave flood claimed 20 persons as the death toll in the state mounted to 104 this year so far.

Following torrential rains in Assam and Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Manipur, Mizoram and Bhutan, the water level of Brahmaputra is flowing above danger level marks at Nematighat in Jorhat district, Tezpur in Sonitpur district, Guwahati in Kamrup (Metro) district, Goalpara and Dhubri.

A top official of Assam State Disaster Management Authority (ASDMA) said  the water level of the tributaries of Brahmaputra river and Barak river also flowing above danger level marks in various places in Upper Assam, Middle Assam, Northern Assam, Lower Assam and Barak valley.

“The flood situation turned more worsen in middle Assam’s district Nagaon after the flood water breached the Hatimura embankment at Jakhalabandha area under Kaliabor sub-division last night. The flood waters inundated more than 50 villages in the area and crossed NH-37 at several places,” the top official said.

Meanwhile, the Nagaon district administration had sounded high alert and closed all vehicles movement at NH-37.

The flood waters also submerged over 90 forest camp inside the Kaziranga National Park.

“Following the second wave flood, most of wild animals including one horned rhinos of the park had moved to nearby Karbi Anglong hill areas by crossing NH-37 and few animals taken shelter at higher lands inside the park,” a forest official said.According to the reports of ASDMA, over 2800 villages of 21 districts are affected in the current wave flood and the flood waters submerged more than 1.35 lakh crop areas.

“Over 3.98 lakh people are affected alone in Dhubri district, while 3.14 lakh affected in Morigaon, 2.36 lakh in Kokrajhar, 2.07 lakh in Bongaigaon, 1.84 lakh in Barpeta, 1.63 lakh in South Salmara, 1.44 lakh in Dhemaji, 1.14 lakh in Golaghat,” the top ASDMA official said.

Over 1.83 lakh people were forced to take shelter at 678 relief camps set up by the district administration in 15 districts.

Meanwhile, Assam revenue and Disaster management minister Pallab Lochan Das and Chief Secretary VK Pipersenia in a Video Conference held on Sunday directed the Deputy Commissioners of the flood affected districts to gear up relief and rescue of the affected people on a war footing.

They also directed DCs to keep vigil on relief and rescue works upto the grass-root level by smoothly co-ordinating in all sphere.

During the video conferencing the minister also directed the DCs to distribute GRs door to door if situation arises.                            

It may be mentioned that NDRF and SDRF teams have already been deployed in fourteen and thirty locations respectively.

Moreover, army and air force teams have also been kept on the high alert.

Army has already been deployed in Kokrajhar, Nagaon (Kaliabor Sub-division) and Morigaon districts.

On the other hand, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday talked over phone with Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal and enquired about the scale of devastation caused by the current wave of flood in the state.

Sonowal apprised the Prime Minister about the various measures taken by the government for providing relief to the flood affected people and also informed that the administrations of all flood hit districts have been directed to ensure speedy relief distribution to the victims.           

During the course of the telephonic conversation, the Prime Minister assured all cooperation from the central government in overcoming the havoc caused by flood and informed that all necessary steps would be taken for helping the state government to mitigate the problem.          

Notably, Principal Secretary of Prime Minister’s Office Nripendra Mishra directed Assam Chief Secretary VK Pipersenia to submit a report to the PMO detailing the damage and devastation caused by the current wave of floods in the state.  

On the other hand, Sarbananda Sonowal on Sunday visited flood relief camp at Bhismak LP School at Panchmile, Sadiya and took stock of the arrangements for the inmates at the camp.  

He also visited Kundil riverside over Kundil Bridge and directed Water Resource Department to take immediate measures to stop erosion.          

It is to be mentioned that continuous erosion by Kundil river has been causing serious threat to Panchmile, Lakhimi Gaon, Bogoribari apart from threatening Kundil Bridge.

The Assam CM also talked to the media persons and informed that dredging of the river Kundil during winter season will be taken up so that the change of river course which has taken place due to persistent erosion can be tackled.          

Sonowal further informed that that state government is taking serious steps for solving the problems of Amarpur area including improvement of surface communication.

In this regard he informed that a proposal for constructions of two bridges connecting Amarpur has been submitted to central government and the Ministry of Roads and Highways will conduct a survey for further necessary action.          

Sonowal also visited Aithan Ring Bund at Bogibeel, Dibrugarh and took stock of the condition of the flood affected people there.

He assured the flood affected people of adequate relief measures and said that district administration has already been pressed into the service to meet the requirement of flood victims.            

Saying that once flood is over the government would take up rehabilitation measures and strengthening of the embankments would be done on war footing, Sonowal stated the government is serious in its pursuit of a permanent solution to the recurring floods.

He also sat for a discussion with the Indian Railway authorities and discussed with them the expeditious construction of road cum rail bridge at Bogibeel.

(Reporting by Hemanta Kumar Nath)