Assam flood situation worsens; 33 lakh people in 28 districts affected

Nine deaths due to drowning were reported during the day taking the number of fatalities this season to 59. Over 44,000 uprooted by flooding are taking shelter in 517 relief camps in the affected districts.

 

Guwahati(Agencies):  The flood situation in Assam worsened further on Tuesday with nearly 33 lakh people in the 28 of the state’s 33 districts affected.

According to Assam State Disaster Management Authority (ASDMA), 3371 villages in 92 revenue circles of the state were affected by floods. Barpeta, Dhubri and Morigaon were the worst affected among all districts.

Nine deaths due to drowning were reported during the day taking the number of fatalities this season to 59. Over 44,000 uprooted by flooding are taking shelter in 517 relief camps in the affected districts.

Flood waters have submerged 1.28 lakh hectares of crop area in the affected districts. During the day, 7,733 people stranded due to floods were rescued by boats and evacuated to safer locations.

On Tuesday, flood waters damaged a total of 160 houses across the state. Besides humans, nearly 33 lakh domestic animals and poultry have also been affected by flooding.

Several roads in the affected districts were submerged under water affecting movement of vehicles. Many incidents of damage to embankments, roads and bridges and erosion were also reported from the all over the state.

According to a report by Central Water Commission (CWC), most rivers in the state were in spate with Brahmaputra, Burhidihing, Dhansiri, Jia Bharali, Kopili, Beki, Kushiyara and Sankosh flowing over the danger mark at several places.

Floods continue to ravage Kaziranga

Nearly 95% of the Kaziranga national park and tiger reserve spread over 430 sq km is still inundated, according to a report by the park authorities. Flood waters have inundated 173 of the 223 forest camps inside the park.

A total of 51 wild animals of the park-11 due to drowning and 12 due to vehicle hits-have died during this monsoon.

On Tuesday, two tigers strayed out of the park to escape flooding and reached Baghmari village near the park’s periphery. While one was driven towards the higher locations in Karbi Anglong hills another spent few hours near the national highway near the park before moving away.

A one-year-old female rhino calf that got separated from its mother due to flooding was rescued by forest personnel on Tuesday from Diphalu Pathar from the park’s Agratoli range.

On Monday, a sub-adult tiger had come out of the park’s Agratoli range due to flooding and taken shelter in a goat-shed in a nearby village. Later it moved back to the park.