Assam remained in the grip of a devastating flood with four more deaths and a population of 25.10 lakh affected on Saturday while Cachar district headquarter Silchar remained submerged in water for the sixth consecutive day, official sources said.
The death toll in this year’s flood increased to 122 with four more deaths, one each from Barpeta, Cachar, Darrang and Golaghat, reported during the day.
The total population affected due to the floods, however, declined to 25.10 lakh in 27 districts as against the previous day’s 33.03 lakh in 28 districts, according to a bulletin issued by the Assam State Disaster Management Authority (ASDMA).
The water levels of most of the rivers are maintaining a receding trend though the Brahmaputra at Dhubri and Kopili in Nagaon were flowing above the danger mark.
In Silchar town, submerged for the last six days due to a breach in a dyke at Betkundi, efforts are on to evacuate marooned people to safety with priority given to shift ailing persons to hospitals, Deputy Commissioner Keerthi Jalli.
A pregnant woman, several patients who undergo daily dialysis and those suffering from major illnesses have been shifted during the day.
Packets with food, drinking water bottles and other essentials were airdropped at different places of the town by Indian Air Force helicopters and this will continue till the situation improves, she said.
Two drones have been deployed in Silchar for carrying out the flood inundation mapping as well as to provide relief materials to the affected people.
Eight NDRF teams with 207 personnel from Itanagar and Bhubaneswar along with a team of Indian army with 120 personnel and nine boats from Dimapur in Nagaland have been deployed in Silchar.
In addition, 10 CRPF personnel with two high speed boats along with four boats and four SDRF personnel have also been airlifted to Cachar for rescue operation of stranded people, an ASDMA official said..
The state government has airlifted 85.2 metric tonnes of relief materials from Jorhat and Guwahati to Silchar.
A population of 2.80 lakh has been affected with residents facing an acute shortage of food, clean drinking water and medicines.
The three districts of Barak Valley- Cachar, Hailakandi and Karimganj were severely affected by the rising water of the Barak and Kushiara.
The worst flood affected districts in the state are Barpeta with 7,49,959 followed by Nagaon with 5,11,635 and Kamrup with 1,97,159, according to the ASDMA bulletin.
Urban flooding was reported from Cachar, Darrang, Dibrugarh and Morigaon.
The devastating floods have affected 79 revenue circles and 2894 villages, while 2,33,271 inmates have taken shelter in 637 relief camps, it said.
Relief materials were distributed from 259 delivery points among flood-hit people who have not taken shelters in the relief camps.
Nine embankments were breached during the day with six in Darrang, two in Udalguri and one in Baksa while flood waters have damaged 103 roads and three bridges in Udalguri district.
According to the bulletin, 40 houses were fully and 582 partially damaged during the last 24 hours.
A crop area of 80346.28 hectares and 22,16,700 animals have been affected in the current second wave of floods.
Large scale erosion was also reported from Baksa, Bongaigaon, Chirang, Hailakandi, Lakhimpur, Majuli, Morigaon, Nalbari and Udalguri, the Bulletin stated.
Teams led by state ministers and supported by senior officials would visit the affected areas soon for the damage assessment caused by the floods.
The Post Disaster Needs Assessment (PDNA) of the entire state will also be arranged for damage assessment, officials said.
