Flood Havoc in 21 Districts of Assam

Six lives lost, train services hit

Staff Reporter

GUWAHATI: Under simultaneous attacks by floods and landslides, Assam lost three more lives in the past 24 hours. With this, the death toll due to floods and landslides in the State has reached six so far. Twenty-one districts are under flood fury in the State where road and train services have been disrupted at many places.

The three lives were lost due to floods and landslides in the past 24 hours in Golaghat and Dima Hasao districts. So far, over 8.69 lakh people have been affected in the current wave of floods in the State. As many as 1,556 villages in 68 revenue circles in Dhemaji, Lakhimpur, Biswanath, Sonitpur, Darrang, Baksa, Barpeta, Nalbari, Chirang, Bongaigaon, Kokrajhar, Goalpara, Morigaon, Hojai, Nagaon, Golaghat, Majuli, Jorhat, Sivasagar, Dibrugarh and Tinsukia districts by this wave of floods.

A number of rivers have been flowing over danger levels – the Brahmaputra in Jorhat, Sonitpur, Kamrup, Goalpara and Dhubri districts; the Burhidehing in Dibrugarh; the Desang in Sivagar; the Dhansiri in Golaghat; the Jia Bharali in Sonitpur; the Kopili in Nagaon; Puthimari in Kamrup; Beki in Barpeta; Katakhal in Hailakandi and the Kushiyara in Karimganj districts.

Meanwhile, the NDRF (National Disaster Response Force) and the SDRF (State Disaster Response Force) teams have been pressed into service in the affected areas for search and rescue operation. At present, 68 relief camps are operational in Dhemaji, Lakhimpur, Baksa, Nalbari, Chirang, Kokrajhar, Golaghat, Majuli, Jorhat, Dibrugarh and Tinsukia districts with 7,643 inmates. This apart, 48 relief distribution centres are operational in Dhemaji, Lakhimpur, Nalbari, Golaghat, Majuli, Jorhat and Tinsukia districts.

Meanwhile, trains services to the Barak Valley and Tripura were affected on Friday due to incessant rains that have affected the railway tracks in the Lumding-Badarpur hill section of NF Railway.

According to NFR Chief Public Relations Officer P.J. Sharma, tracks between the Jatinga-Lumpur and the New Harangajao stations have been affected, forcing authorities to cancel or short terminate four trains connecting the region.

The 13173 up Sealdah-Agartala Kanchanjunjha Express which arrived at the Lumding station at 9.25 a.m. has been short terminated, and will remain cancelled between Lumding and Agartala, sources said, and added that the 13176 Silchar-Sealdah Kanchanjunga Express scheduled to leave Silchar on Friday remained cancelled. The 55615 Guwahati-Silchar passenger which left Guwahati on July 11 and arrived in New Haflong July 12 has also been short terminated, and stands cancelled. Similarly, the 55616 Silchar-Guwahati passenger train which arrived Chandranathpur station on Friday morning has been short terminated and will return to Silchar, the sources said. Floods have also affected wildlife with flood waters inundating the Kaziranga National Park, the Pobitora Wildlife Sanctuary etc.

Also Read: Flood Fury Continues: Incessant rain creates havoc in Tinsukia