The flood situation has taken a critical turn in Assam, affecting over 17 lakh people in 24 districts and taking the death toll to 44, officials said on Wednesday.
Five people were killed in separate incidents in the last 24 hours, officials of the Assam State Disaster Management Authority (ASDMA) said.
The ASDMA said a total of 17,18,135 people were affected as on Wednesday.
A total of 294 relief camps housing over 31,000 people have been opened in the state. Over 2,000 people have been rescued even as teams carry out relief and rescue work.
Most of Kaziranga National Park Is Under Water
In the worst-affected Lakhimpur, three persons were killed on 10 July in drowning and landslide cases. At Nowboicha area, Kanak Gogoi (50) drowned, while a couple, Krishna Bahadur Dorji, 55 and Sulemaya Dorji, 45, were killed in a landslide in the Narayanpur area.
In Jorhat district, two children – Binod Bhuyan, 4 and Munu Bhuyan, 6 – died due to drowning in Teok area, ASDMA said.
Bijoy Bhuyan, 54 also died due to drowning at Bokakhat in Golaghat, while another minor Sagar Das, 12 drowned at Matia in Goalpara.
The ASDMA said more than 12.55 lakh people are suffering at present in Lakhimpur, Darrang, Jorhat, Golaghat, Cachar, Dhemaji, Biswanath, Karimganj, Sonitpur, Majuli, Barpeta, Nagaon, Nalbari, Sivasagar, Morigaon, Chirang, Dibrugarh, Dhubri, Kokrajhar and South Salmara districts.
Most of Kaziranga National Park is underwater, leaving some animals dead and some moving to nearby highlands.
Some animals were killed by speeding vehicles on the National Highway 37, which passes through the Park. Forest guards have started patrolling in boats, specially during night, with the help of other agencies like Assam Police and Special Task Force to save the animals from poachers.
Brahmaputra Is Flowing Above the Danger Mark
The ASDMA said 2,053 villages are under water at present and more than 1.05 lakh hectares of crop areas have been damaged.
The worst-affected is Lakhimpur, where over 2.92 lakh people have been affected by the deluge, followed by South Salmara with more than 2.5 lakh sufferers.
In Guwahati also, water logging and landslide incidents have been reported, but there are no casualties. Authorities are running 148 relief camps and distribution centres in 11 districts, where 18,295 persons are currently taking shelter. Government has distributed 2,523.70 quintals of rice, 461.11 quintals of dal and 130.34 quintals of salt among the flood victims, the ASDMA said.
Across the state, 4,48,803 animals and poultry have been affected by flood waters. Due to impact of the floods, many roads, embankments and bridges have been damaged in several districts, including Kokrajhar, Lakhimpur, Dibrugarh, Majuli, Biswanath, Barpeta, Dhemaji, Golaghat, Sivasagar, Karimganj, South Salmara and Nalbari.
Currently, the Brahmaputra is flowing above the danger mark at Nimatighat in Jorhat, Tezpur in Sonitpur, along with Dibrugarh, Goalpara and Dhubri towns.
Other rivers like Subansiri at Badatighat in Lakhimpur, Dikhow at Sivasagar town, Dhansiri at Numaligarh in Golaghat, Jia Bharali at NT Road Crossing in Sonitpur, Puthimari at NH Road Crossing in Kamrup, Beki at Road Bridge in Barpeta, Barak at Badarpurghat in Karimganj and Kushiyara at Karimganj town are flowing above the danger mark.
(At The Quint, we question everything. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member today.)