Assam Flood situation aggravates; season's death toll surpasses 150 mark

STAFF REPORTER

GUWAHATI: The flood has aggravated further in the state, mainly in lower and north Assam.

The death of 12 people, including one in a landslide, in the past 24 hours bears testimony to the aggravated flood situation. The death toll due to floods and landslides in this flood season in the state is 151.

Water from Arunachal Pradesh created havoc in Dhemaji, Jonai, Gohpur etc. Many urban areas in Gohpur are underwater. Communication on the NH-15 near Gohpur has also suffered a setback as flood water inundated the highway at some stretches. Due to heavy downpour in the past few days in Arunachal Pradesh, the Subansiri has overflowed the catchment areas of the Subansiri Lower Hydroelectric Project (SLHP) at Gerukamukh.

The situation in the Bajali district in lower Assam also deteriorated again. People who left for their houses from relief camps had to return to the relief camps today.

The River Aie gobbled up an LP school building at the Abhayapuri North LAC in the Bongaigaon district. The school has around 200 pupils.

ASDMA's flood bulletin says that the Brahmaputra flows above the danger level at Tezpur and Nematighat, Kopili at Dharamtul and the Beki at Road Bridge. The deluge affected 31,54,556 people of 2,675 villages in 26 districts today. Over 3.12 lakh people are taking shelter in 560 relief camps in the state.

Talking to the media, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said, "I visited the flood-affected areas in the past few days. The affected people admitted to having received relief. However, the damage to property, including houses and study materials students, keep them worried. We have focused on rehabilitation measures now. I feel the government will be able to pay rehabilitation grants to the affected people before July 30 under the Government of India's norms."

Regional Meteorological Centre, Guwahati, said, "An east-west trough runs from Punjab to west-central Bay of Bengal off south Odisha coast across Haryana, south Uttar Pradesh, northeast Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, south Odisha and extends up to 0.9 km above mean sea level. Another secondary trough at mean sea level pressure runs from East Uttar Pradesh to Manipur. Under its influence, widespread rainfall, accompanied by thunderstorm/lightning/ heavy to very heavy rainfall at isolated places is very likely to occur over the northeastern states".

The bulletin further said that light to moderate rainfall would occur at most places with isolated heavy rainfall in Assam and Meghalaya from June 30 to July 3.

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