The flood situation in Assam remained grim on Saturday with four more people losing their lives and 25.10 lakh suffering, while Silchar town in Cachar district continued to be under water for the sixth consecutive day. The fresh fatalities, reported in Barpeta, Cachar, Darrang and Golaghat districts, pushed the number of deaths due to floods and landslides in Assam this year to 122. The number of people remaining affected by the floods, however, dipped to 25.10 lakh in 27 districts from 33.03 lakh in 28 districts on the previous day, as per a bulletin issued by the Assam State Disaster Management Authority (ASDMA).
The water levels in most of the rivers are maintaining a receding trend although Brahmaputra and Kopili are flowing above the danger mark in Dhubri and Nagaon respectively. In Silchar town, submerged for the last six days due to breach in a dyke at Betkundi, efforts are on to evacuate marooned people to safety with priority being given to ailing persons, Deputy Commissioner Keerthi Jalli.
A pregnant woman, several patients who undergo dialysis daily and those suffering from major illnesses have been shifted during the day. Packets containing food, drinking water bottles and other essential items 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 over Silchar for carrying out the flood inundation mapping as well as to provide relief materials to the affected people. Eight NDRF teams comprising 207 personnel from Itanagar and Bhubaneswar along with an Indian Army team of 120 jawans have been deployed in Silchar.
Also, 10 CRPF jawans and four SDRF personnel have been airlifted to Cachar for rescue operations, an ASDMA official said.. The state government has airlifted 85.2 metric tonnes of relief materials from Jorhat and Guwahati to Silchar.
Around 2.80 lakh people have been affected in the town, with residents facing an acute shortage of food, clean drinking water and medicines. The three Barak Valley districts of Cachar, Hailakandi and Karimganj were severely affected by the rising waters of Barak and Kushiara rivers.
The worst flood-affected districts in the state are Barpeta with 7,49,959 people suffering, followed by Nagaon (5,11,635) and Kamrup (1,97,159), the ASDMA bulletin said. Urban flooding was reported in Cachar, Darrang, Dibrugarh and Morigaon districts.
The devastating floods have affected 2,894 villages, while 2,33,271 people have taken shelter in 637 relief camps, it said. Nine embankments were breached during the day with six in Darrang, two in Udalguri and one in Baksa.
According to the bulletin, 40 houses were fully and 582 partially damaged during the last 24 hours. A crop area of 80,346.28 hectares have been affected in the current second wave of floods this year.
Large scale erosion was also reported from Baksa, Bongaigaon, Chirang, Hailakandi, Lakhimpur, Majuli, Morigaon, Nalbari and Udalguri, the bulletin said.
