Assam floods claims 40 lives, affect 200,000 people

With one more death in Assam’s Barpeta district on Wednesday, the death toll in the ongoing current wave of floods has increased to 40, Assam State Disaster Management Authority (ASDMA) officials said.

The situation, however, has largely improved in 11 districts even as around 200,000 people in 12 of the state’s 33 districts have been still affected.

The ASDMA officials said that in the current wave of floods in the past around three weeks, at least 25 persons have died in Morigaon, Tinsukia, Dhubri, Nagaon, Nalbari, Barpeta, Dhemaji, Udalguri, Goalpara and Dibrugarh districts, taking the state’s death toll to 40, while 24 people have been killed in separate landslides since 22 May.

The flood situation has improved in Sivasagar, Bongaigaon, Hojai, Udalguri, Majuli, West Karbi Anglong, Darrang, Kokrajhar, Dhubri, Jorhat, Dibrugarh, South Salmara, Kamrup and Kamrup (Metro) districts, an ASDMA official said, adding that currently the flood-hit districts are Nalbari, Barpeta, Goalpara, Morigaon, Nagaon, Golaghat, Dhemaji, Lakhimpur, Charaideo, Biswanath, Chirang and Tinsukia.

“Around two lakh people in 348 villages were continued to hit by the monsoon floods and over 26,910 hectares of crop were severely affected due to the floods. Around 1,095 people, including women and children, are still sheltered in 35 relief camps,” the official said.

In all, at least 121,000 domestic animals and 127,000 poultry were affected due to the current wave of floods. The National Disaster Response Force, Assam State Disaster Response Force personnel, along with the local administration, are continuously working to rescue the affected people and render relief services, including distribution of relief material to the marooned villagers.