Second Wave of Floods in Assam Leaves Nearly 90,000 Affected

Partially submerged houses seen during flood after monsoon rainfall, in Golaghat on Thursday, 2 August, 2018.

(Photo: PTI)

Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal on Friday, 3 August, reviewed the flood situation in the state and asked the Revenue and Disaster Management department to come up with innovative steps like constructing high-rise structure to give relief to the people who suffer from perennial flood.

The flood situation improved in the state on Friday as deluge waters receded from Udalguri, Barpeta and Biswanath districts, the Assam State Disaster Management Authority (ASDMA) said.

According to ASDMA, flood waters receded from the three districts but entered Darrang district on Friday, taking the total number of deluge affected districts to six and the number of people affected to 87,742.

The death toll in the deluge stood at 41 as no new death was reported on Friday, 3 August, it said.

Reviewing the second wave of flood under which six districts of the state are reeling, the chief minister said that capacity should be built through permanent structures to save the people of the state from the annual floods.

The chief minister directed that ex-gratia amount be handed over to the next of the kin of the deceased, who died in the flood within 48 hours.

He said the Revenue and Disaster Management department should come up with ideas to strengthen the infrastructure to mitigate the sufferings of the people caused by the floods.

Sonowal directed the department to come up with model estimate to construct high-rise structure in the flood prone areas which can be used as safe shelter during floods and for socio-cultural functions and other community related activities during non-food season.

He also asked the department to prepare model estimate for converting the dykes as road cum embankments to lend capacity building as well as economic prosperity of the rural areas.

The Revenue and Disaster Management department was also directed to ensure that the district administration in the affected districts should remain on their toes to reach out to the flood affected people and expedite rescue and relief work.

Sonowal directed the department to maintain a close vigil on 24x7 basis and assess flood data to face any kind of exigency at any given point in time.

The chief minister said the SDRF personnel should be provided with modern gadgets and two battalions would be raised to pan out the services of SDRF battalions in all the affected areas of the state.

From 13 June to 3 August, Assam had two waves of flood affecting 163 villages and 10. 99 lakh people, the meeting was informed.

Altogether 388 relief camps have been set up and 440 relief distribution centres have been opened to distribute relief items to the flood affected people.