Assam flood toll 154, more than 14 lakh still affected

The flood situation in Assam improved considerably during the past 24 hours, but the casualty list has kept on expanding.

Three people, two of them in north-central Assam’s Darrang district, drowned on Monday to take the death toll in two waves of deluge to 154. The first wave that ended mid-July had claimed 84 human lives.

Besides, flash floods and landslides have killed at least 65 people in five other states in the Northeast.

Officials of the Assam State Disaster Management Authority (ASDMA) said 15 of the state’s 33 districts continue to be flood-affected with 46,365 people – down from 54,982 on Sunday – still lodged in 2227 relief camps.

The number of affected people across 1,241 inundated villages was 14.36 lakh after 4.29 lakh people returned to their homes.

“The msot affected district is Morigaon (central Assam) where 4.22 lakh people are still affected. Barpeta and South Salmara districts (western Assam) follow,” an ASDMA official said.

The state government has acknowledged that this year’s floods have been the worst in recent years in terms of loss of human lives as well as damage to infrastructure.

“This time, 26 embankments were destroyed in 15 districts. Generally, embankments are repaired a year after the floods, but we tried to put a few together during the interval between the two waves,” water resources minister Keshab Mahanta said.

Large portions of at least eight major roads have been washed away too.

Though the situation has improved, the Brahmaputra continues to flow above the danger mark at two places Neematighat in Jorhat district and Dhubri. The Dhansiri, Kopili and Beki rivers – the lesser ‘sorrows of Assam’ – are flowing above the danger level at one place each.

On the brighter side, there were no reports of fresh casualty from Kaziranga National Park. The wildlife death toll during the second flood wave on Sunday was 337. The first wave had claimed 107 animals. EOM