Over 40,000 hit in pre-monsoon floods

Our Bureau

Guwahati, April 24: Over 40,000 people have been affected and 1,000 hectares of crop land inundated by surging floods following torrential pre-monsoon rains for the past one week in Assam.

Four districts — Lakhimpur, Jorhat, Sivasagar and Charaideo — have been affected by the flood waters, the Assam State Disaster Magement Authority (ASDMA) said, adding that 42,658 people were hit.

The army, the tiol Disaster Response Force and the State Disaster Response Force are engaged in rescue and relief operations to help marooned people in Chairaideo.

Chief Secretary VK Pipersenia reviewed the flood situation with officials in Guwahati, interacting with all the deputy commissioners through video conferencing. He asked them to keep a close watch on the flood situation in their districts.

Pipersenia also reviewed the preparedness of various departments and availability of medicines and essential drugs in the Health and Family Welfare department.

The chief secretary also directed the Water Resources department, the PWD (tiol Highways division) and the tiol Highways Authority of India to jointly inspect the damaged NH-53 at Panchgram near Hailakandi in Barak Valley.

The Central Water Commission said the Burhidehing river in Khowang in Dibrugarh district and the Desang river in Sivasagar districts were flowing above danger level.

The Regiol Meteorological Centre at Borjhar near Guwahati said the situation was likely to improve after Monday.