Five more die, toll reaches 45

FLOOD FURY

Our Bureau

Guwahati, Sept 4: Five more people have died in the last 24 hours in continuing flood fury in the State as the authorities said on Friday that over 15 lakh people continued to be marooned in 21 districts.

One person died in Morigaon district and two each in Dibrugarh and Goalpara districts, the Assam State Disaster Magement Authority (ASDMA) said.

Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi made an aerial survey of the flood-hit Dibrugarh and Tinsukia districts and reviewed the situation with his top officials. He asked all the districts to go for rescue and relief operations.

A total of 15,88,414 people remain affected by the deluge till Friday in the 21 districts, according to official figures.

Of the 21 districts, the condition is serious in 15 including Kokrajhar, Bongaigaon, Barpeta, Cachar, Dhemaji, Tinsukia, Sonitpur, lbari, Dibrugarh, Morigaon gaon, Golaghat, Kamrup (metro), Kamrup (rural) and Golapara.

A total of 2,06,679 were rendered homeless, forcing them to take shelter in 320 relief camps set up in the 15 most affected districts. The Brahmaputra, Burhidihing, Desang, Jia Bhoroli, Kopili, Puthimari, Beki and Kushiara rivers are flowing above the danger levels at different places across the state.

In Guwahati, the Brahmaputra is flowing above the danger level. The level increased from 50.17 metres to 50.21 metres (danger level 49.68 m) in the last 24 hours.

The government has pressed into service the tiol Disaster Rescue Force (NDRF) and the State Disaster Rescue Force (SDRF) units in all the 21 districts.

Close to 100 machine boats and hundreds of country made boats have been pressed into service to rescue the flood-hit people. The floods have also affected hundreds of hectares of crop land.