Assam flood: Toll rises to 24; marginal improvement in situation

Six more persons died in Assam on Sunday due to flood, taking the overall death toll to 24, even as the flood situation witnessed some marginal improvement, officials said.

Over 7.19 lakh people have been affected in 22 of the state's 34 districts. Assam State Disaster Management Authority (ASDMA) officials said that the fresh deaths were reported from Nagaon (4), Cachar and Hojai districts.

Of the 24 deaths, 19 died in floods and five in landslides in different districts. An ASDMA release said 7,19,425 people, including 1,41,050,children, of 2,095 villages in 22 districts have been affected.

It said that a total of 24,749 stranded people have been evacuated with the help of disaster response forces and volunteers. In all, 269 relief camps and 152 relief distribution centres have been opened in all the affected areas.

A total of 91,518 people are staying in the relief camps. Over 95,473 hectare of crops have been affected.

The Army, Assam Rifles, National Disaster Response Force, and the State Disaster Response Force, along with the district administrations, are working round the clock to rescue the stranded people and to provide relief to the marooned men, women and children.

Among the worst-hit districts in the state -- 3,45,838,people were affected in Nagaon district alone followed by 2,29,275 people in Cachar district, 58,393 in Hojai district, 38,538 in Morigaon district, 28,001 in Darrang district, 16,382 in Karimganj district.

The water in two rivers -- Kopili and Disang was flowing above the danger level in several places.

The ASDMA release said 2,000 liters of diesel and 12 MT food items have been transported through air from Jorhat to three remote places Laisong, Khepre and Mazidisa of Dima Hasao district on Sunday.

An IoT based water level monitoring system namely "Jaltarangini" has been tested in Dibrugarh with technological support from NIC, rollout of which will further improve the precision of flood forecasting and early warning system.

Meanwhile, the Unicef has deployed 7 teams of technical specialists and consultants to support the DDMAs of Cachar, Hojai, Darrang, Biswanath, Nagaon, Morigaon and Dima Hasao in monitoring the flood relief camps in accordance with the relief camp management SOPs, assessing ground situation and needs, and supporting relevant stakeholders in strengthening the response activities.

Several Ministers, including Revenue and Disaster Management Minister Jogen Mohan, Health Minister Keshab Mahanta, Water Resources Minister Pijush Hazarika, and Environment and Forest Minister Parimal Suklabaidya, are camping in the flood-ravaged areas to supervise the rescue and relief operations.

The situation in the hill section of the Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) in Dima Hasao district remained serious on Sunday as intermittent rain continued to batter the area, affecting the Lumding-Badarpur single line railway route, which connects Tripura, Mizoram, Manipur and the southern part of Assam with the rest of the country.

According to NFR's Chief Public Relations Officer, Sabyasachi De, in the Lumding Division, train services have been either cancelled or partially cancelled and short terminated or short originated.

Defence spokesman, Lt. Col. Angom Bobin Singh said Army and Assam Rifles personnel have continued the rescue and relief operations in various parts of Assam.