2 more die in Assam flood; 3.55 lakh people hit

Guwahati/Tezpur: Two more persons have died as the flood situation in Assam worsened today, with nearly 3.55 lakh people being affected by the deluge across 13 districts in the state.

In an incident in Lakhimpur district, a two-and-half year old girl drowned at her house in Mudaibil village last night when waters of Subansiri river inundated the area.

According to officials, the infant, who has been identified as Pallabi Narai, was sleeping with her mother when water entered their house.

“She was washed away by the strong current,” officials said.

According to a report by the Assam State Disaster Management Authority (ASDMA), another person died at Chandrapur in the state capital due to landslide.

With these, the total number of persons losing their lives in this year’s flood-related incidents has gone up to 16, including seven in Guwahati.

ASDMA said almost 3.55 lakh people have been affected in Lakhimpur, Jorhat, Golaghat, Cachar, Dhemaji, Biswanath, Karimganj, Sonitpur, Darrang, Hojai, Majuli, Barpeta and Nagaon districts.

Till yesterday, 2.75 lakh people were affected in the latest wave of floods across seven districts in the state.

ASDMA said 740 villages are currently under water and almost 15,000 hectares of crop area have been damaged.

The worst affected is Karimganj, where over 2.12 lakh people have been affected by the deluge, followed by Lakhimpur with more than 92,000 sufferers.

Authorities are running 145 relief camps and distribution centres in six districts, where 21,683 persons are currently taking shelter.

Due to the impact of flood waters, many roads, embankments and bridges have been damaged in Biswanath, Majuli, Golaghat, Jorhat, Karimganj, Darrang, Udalguri and Karbi Anglong, the ASDMA said.

Currently, Brahmaputra is flowing above the danger mark at Neematighat in Jorhat and at Tezpur in Sonitpur.

Other rivers like Dikhow at Sivasagar town in Sivasagar district, Dhansiri at Golaghat town and at Numaligarh in Golaghat, Jia Bharali at NT Road Crossing in Sonitpur, Barak at Badarpurghat in Karimganj and Kushiyara at Karimganj town in Karimganj are flowing above the danger marks.

—PTI