Floods ravage Assam, thousands hit, more rainfall predicted

The flood situation in Assam was critical on Wednesday (June 21), with overnight rains affecting over 34,000 people severely across nine districts and authorities in India and Bhutan predicting more heavy showers.

Bhutan and the India Meteorological Department (IMD) forecast heavy to extremely heavy rains the next few days in the upper catchment areas, which could push up water levels in the mighty Brahmaputra and its tributaries.

The Assam State Disaster Management Authority (ASDMA) said the Bhutan government had said light to moderate rainfall may occur in isolated areas of the country in the next two-three days.

Also read: Natural disasters, floods, cyclones displaced 2.5 million in India: Report

It said that due to continuous rains in both the upper catchment areas of Bhutan and Assam along with release of water from the Kurichhu Dam in Bhutan had led to rising water levels and floods in Assam’s western parts.

The IMD also issued a Red Alert and predicted very heavy to extremely heavy rainfall across several districts of Assam over the next few days.

IMD alerts

IMD’s Regional Meteorological Centre (RMC) in Guwahati issued a Red Alert for 24 hours from Tuesday, followed by an Orange Alert for Wednesday and a Yellow Alert for Thursday.

Red Alert signifies taking immediate action, while Orange Alert implies to be prepared for action and Yellow Alert stands for watch and be updated.

According to the ASDMA, nearly 34,100 people have been hit badly due to floods in Baksa, Barpeta, Darrang, Dibrugarh, Kokrajhar, Lakhimpur, Nalbari, Sonitpur and Udalguri districts.

Lakhimpur is the worst hit with over 22,000 people afrected, followed by Dibrugarh with almost 3,900 people and Kokrajhar with more than 2,700 persons.

The administration has opened one relief camp in Kokrajhar, where 56 persons have taken shelter.

At present, 523 villages are under water and 5,842.78 hectares of crop areas have been damaged across Assam, ASDMA said.

Erosions, landslides

Massive erosions have taken place in Barpeta, Sonitpur, Bongaigaon, Dhubri, Dibrugarh, Golaghat, Kamrup, Morigaon, Nalbari, Sivasagar and Udalguri.

Places in Cachar, Dima Hasao and Karimganj have reported landslides due to heavy rainfall.

Embankments, roads, bridges and other infrastructure have been damaged by flood waters in Udalguri, Sonitpur, Darrang, Bongaigaon, Chirang, Dhubri, Goalpara, Kamrup, Karimganj, Kokrajhar, Nagaon, Nalbari and Barpeta.

Urban areas were inundated with food at many places across Darrang, Jorhat, Kamrup Metropolitan, Kokrajhar and Nalbari districts.

(With agency inputs)