Assam flood situation better, IMD warns of heavy rainfall

By-Rokibuz Zaman
GUWAHATI: The flood situation in Assam improved considerably on Monday even though one more person lost his life in the deluge, which continues to affect nearly four lakh people across 15 districts.
However, things may turn grim again as the Indian Meteorological Department has warned of heavy rainfall at isolated places in Assam and its neighbouring states in the next four to five days.
“Isolated heavy to very heavy rainfall is very likely over Assam, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram and Tripura between July 6 and 10 and over Arunachal Pradesh between July 8 and 10. There are also chances of extremely heavy rainfall over parts of Arunachal Pradesh, Assam and Meghalaya on July 9 and 10,” an official of Regional Meteorological Centre here said.
Almost 4,226 people are still homeless and taking shelter in the government-run relief camps and distribution centres across six districts. According to the daily flood bulletin of the Assam State Disaster Management Authority (ASDMA), one person died at Raha in Nagaon district, taking the death toll in the state to 38.
24 people have also died due to landslides since last month.
The ASDMA said more than 3.86 lakh people are still affected by the floods in Dhemaji, Sivasagar, Biswanath, Chirang, Nalbari, Barpeta, Kokrajhar, Dhubri, Goalpara, Kamrup, Morigaon, Nagaon, Golaghat, Jorhat and Tinsukia districts.
Barpeta continued to be the worst-hit with nearly 2.23 lakh people still reeling under the floods, followed by Goalpara with more than 68,500 people and Dhubri with over 27,000 persons. Altogether, 128 have been rescued by the NDRF, SDRF and district administrations in Dhemaji and Barpeta in the last 24 hours.
However, the current situation was a considerable improvement over Sunday which saw 6.8 lakh people being affected across 17 districts.
Meanwhile, the Central Water Commission (CWC), in its advisory, said Assam will receive heavy to heavy rainfall which may increase the water level of rivers in the state from June 10.
“There has been a significant reduction in rainfall in northeastern states. All river levels are falling. However, as the monsoon trough is again likely to shift to foothills of the Himalayas by July 9, it may lead to rains in Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Meghalaya and sub-Himalayan West Bengal. Due to this, the river levels are likely to rise from July 10,” the CWC advisory read.
At least 32,215.39 hectares of crop area has been damaged to date.
The Brahmaputra is currently flowing above the danger mark at Nimatighat in Jorhat and Dhubri town in Dhubri districts and its tributaries Disang at Nanglamuraghat in Sivasagar, Jia Bharali at NT Road Crossing in Sonitpur and Kopili at Dharamtul in Nagaon are flowing above the danger mark.
Embankments, roads and many other infrastructure have been damaged at various places in Goalpara, Sivasagar, Udalguri, Dhemaji, Baksa, Dibrugarh and Majuli districts. Massive erosions have been witnessed at different areas of Lakhimpur, Charaideo and Udalguri districts, ASDMA authorities said.
The deluge has so far claimed lives of 47 different animals in Kaziranga National Park. The floods have also affected 9,09,108 domestic animals and poultry across the state in the last 24 hours.