Assam flood situation worsens; 31.5 lakh affected, 12 fresh fatalities
Guwahati: The flood situation in Assam worsened further on Wednesday with 12 more people losing their lives and the number of affected people increasing to 31.5 lakh, while Silchar town in Cachar district remained under water for the last 10 days, officials said.
Eleven people died due to floods and one in a landslide, a bulletin issued by Assam State Disaster Management Authority (ASDMA) said.
The fresh fatalities have pushed the toll due to floods and landslides in the state this year to 151.
The number of affected people increased to 31.54 lakh in 26 districts, up from 24.92 lakh on the previous day. Brahmaputra, Beki, Kopili, Barak and Kushiyara rivers were flowing above the danger level.
Most localities of Silchar town were under water with residents facing shortage of food, drinking water and medicines.
The town is submerged for the last 10 days due to breach of dyke at Bethkundi, and work is underway to repair it, Deputy Commissioner Keerthi Jalli said.
Priority is being given to reach out to affected people with clean drinking water and food, while medical camps are being organised by the health department in all the 28 municipal wards in Silchar to ensure prevention of water-borne diseases.
“Short-term public health measures must be adopted by the people to prevent the spread of diseases in the post-flood period,” she said.
As many as 2,675 villages in 79 revenue circles have been affected across the state, with 3,12,085 people having taken shelter in 569 relief camps.
Cachar is the worst affected with 14.30 lakh people suffering, followed by Barpeta (5.49 lakh) and Nagaon (5.19 lakh).
Five embankments have been breached, while 177 roads and five bridges have been damaged.
A total of 548 houses have been fully damaged, and 1,034 have been partially damaged due to the floods.
Large-scale erosion has been reported in Baksa, Barpeta, Biswanath, Bongaigaon, Kokrajhar, Lakhimpur, Morigaon, Nagaon, Nalbari, Sonitpur, South Salmara, Tamulpur and Tinsukia districts, while Cachar and Tinsukia witnessed urban flooding.
