Assam flood: 18 dead; over 8.39L hit in 32 districts

Guwahati, May 21 (IANS) The flood situation in Assam further deteriorated on Saturday with the death of four more persons, taking the death toll to 18, officials said, adding over 8.39 lakh people have been affected in 32 of the state's 34 districts.

According to the officials of the Assam State Disaster Management Authority (ASDMA) the fresh deaths were reported from Cachar (2), Nagaon, and Hojai districts while one person is missing in Cachar district.

An ASDMA release said 8,39,691 people, including 1,45,126,children, of 3,246 villages in 32 districts have been affected.

It said that a total of 24,749 stranded persons have been evacuated with the help of disaster response forces and volunteers.

In all, 499 relief camps and 519 relief distribution centres have been opened in all the affected areas.

A total of 92,124 people are staying in the relief camps.

Over 1,00,732 hectare of crops have been affected.

The Army, Assam Rifles, National Disaster Response Force, and the State Disaster Response Force, along with the district administrations, are working round the clock to rescue the stranded people and to provide relief to the marooned ones.

Among the worst-hit places in the state -- 3,39,427 people were affected in Nagaon district alone followed by 1,77,954 people in Cachar district, 70,233 in Hojai district, 44,382 in Darrang district, 16,382 in Karimganj district.

The water in three rivers -- Kopili, Disang and Brahmaputra, was flowing above the danger level in several places.

In view of the current flood and landslides, Chief Secretary Jishnu Barua on Saturday reviewed the flood preparedness with all the stakeholders including ASDMA, and further expedited the response and recovery services by deployment of additional resources and support system to the severely affected districts.

Meanwhile, the Unicef has deployed 7 teams of technical specialists and consultants to support the DDMAs of Cachar, Hojai, Darrang, Biswanath, Nagaon, Morigaon and Dima Hasao in monitoring the flood relief camps in accordance with the relief camp management SOPs, assessing ground situation and needs, and supporting relevant stakeholders in strengthening the response activities.

Several Ministers, including Revenue and Disaster Management Minister Jogen Mohan, Health Minister Keshab Mahanta, Water Resources Minister Pijush Hazarika, and Environment and Forest Minister Parimal Suklabaidya, are camping in the flood-ravaged areas to supervise the rescue and relief operations.

The situation in the hill section of the Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) in Dima Hasao district remained serious on Saturday as rain continued to batter the area, affecting the Lumding-Badarpur single line railway route, which connects Tripura, Mizoram, Manipur and the southern part of Assam with the rest of the country.

According to NFR's Chief Public Relations Officer, Sabyasachi De, in the Lumding Division, 11 pairs of train services have been cancelled and five pairs of train services partially cancelled and short terminated or short originated.

Defence spokesman, Lt. Col. Angom Bobin Singh said Army and Assam Rifles personnel have continued the rescue operations in various parts of Assam.