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Guwahati: Assam received several overnight rains on Tuesday following which the flood situation turned grim. More than 34,000 people are in the grip of floods in nine districts of the state. An officer gave this information. The Bhutan government and the India Meteorological Department have predicted heavy to very heavy rainfall in the upper reaches of the kingdom over the next few days, which could lead to a rise in water levels in the Brahmaputra and its tributaries.
The Assam State Disaster Management Authority (ASDMA) said the Bhutan government has issued a weather advisory that it is likely to remain cloudy with light to moderate rain over the next two-three days in isolated areas of the country. There is a possibility of rising water level in Brahmaputra and its tributaries.
The flood situation has turned grim in the western part of the state due to incessant rains in both the upper catchment areas of Bhutan and Assam as well as the release of water from the Kurichhu dam in the neighboring country.
The Meteorological Department also issued a ‘red alert’ and predicted ‘very heavy’ to ‘extremely heavy’ rainfall in several districts of Assam in the next few days. The IMD’s Regional Meteorological Center (RMC) in Guwahati has issued a ‘Red Alert’ for 24 hours from Tuesday, followed by an ‘Orange Alert’ for Wednesday and a ‘Yellow Alert’ for Thursday. ‘Red Alert’ means to take immediate action, while ‘Orange Alert’ means to be ready for action and ‘Yellow Alert’ means to be alert and aware.
Around 34,100 people have been affected due to floods in Baksa, Barpeta, Darrang, Dibrugarh, Kokrajhar, Lakhimpur, Nalbari, Sonitpur and Udalguri districts. Lakhimpur has been the worst hit, with over 22,000 people affected by the floods. After this, around 3,900 people have been affected in Dibrugarh and over 2,700 in Kokrajhar.
The administration is operating a relief camp in Kokrajhar where 56 people have taken shelter and it is also running 24 relief distribution centers in four districts. The ASDMA said that 523 villages are currently submerged and 5,842.78 hectares of agricultural land has been damaged in Assam.
The ASDMA said large-scale land erosion has been observed in Barpeta, Sonitpur, Bongaigaon, Dhubri, Dibrugarh, Golaghat, Kamrup, Morigaon, Nalbari, Sivasagar and Udalguri. Incidents of landslides due to heavy rains have been reported in Cachar, Dima Hasao and Karimganj.
Embankments, roads, bridges and other infrastructure have been damaged by floodwaters in Udalguri, Sonitpur, Darrang, Bongaigaon, Chirang, Dhubri, Goalpara, Kamrup, Karimganj, Kokrajhar, Nagaon, Nalbari and Barpeta. Urban areas were inundated with many places in Darrang, Jorhat, Kamrup Metropolitan, Kokrajhar and Nalbari districts. However, no river is flowing above the danger mark as of now. (Language)
