Assam floods toll rises to 16 with one more death in Dibrugarh district

GUWAHATI: Due to constant heavy rains and the rising water levels of the Brahmaputra and its tributaries, the flood situation across Assam worsened on Friday. With one more death reported in Tengakhat Revenue Circle in Dibrugarh district, this year's flood has so far claimed 16 human lives in the State.

While the Brahmaputra has been flowing above the danger level in different districts including Jorhat, Tezpur and Dhubri, the mighty river on Friday crossed the danger mark in Guwahati. An official at the Central Water Commission said that the Brahmaputra had crossed the danger mark in the city at 11 am on Friday. The danger level of the Brahmaputra in the city is marked at 49.68 meter and the river was flowing at 49.74 meter at 5 pm on Friday.

According to the Flood Report issued by the Assam State Disaster Management Authority (ASDMA) on Friday evening, altogether 16 districts namely Dhemaji, Lakhimpur, Biswanath, Udalguri, Darrang, Baksa, Nalbari, Kokrajhar, Barpeta, Nagaon, Golaghat, Jorhat, Majuli, Sivasagar, Dibrugarh and Tinsukia have been worst hit by the current wave of floods. The flood has affected 2,52,661 people in 16 districts. A total of 18,234 people are staying in relief camps set up in different districts by the respective administration.

The Regional Meteorological Centre (RMC) at Borjhar has predicted heavy to very heavy rainfall in Assam till Sunday.

"Heavy to very heavy rain with isolated extremely heavy rainfall is very likely to occur at isolated places over Assam, Meghalaya and Arunachal Pradesh. Guwahati will have generally cloudy sky with heavy rain. Maximum and Minimum temperatures are most likely to be 28°C & 23°C respectively on Saturday," a communiqué issued by the RMC said. On other hand, artificial floods with water logging have made life miserable for residents of different areas in the city. Since the Bharalu River is overflowing in different areas, pumps installed by the administration to flush out rain water to the river could not be operated in some areas on Friday.

Also watch: How Flood Water enters people's home