One more person dies in Assam flood; 3.7 lakh people in six districts affected by deluge

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Guwahati: The flood situation in Assam continued to remain grim on Saturday (May 30) with one more person losing his life and over 3.7 lakh people affected by the deluge in six districts, officials said.

According to the daily flood report of the Assam State Disaster Management Authority (ASDMA), one person died in Kampur in Nagaon district, taking the toll in the first wave of flood in the state to six.

At present, over 3.72 lakh persons are suffering due to flood in Nalbari, Goalpara, Nagaon, Hojai, West Karbi Anglong and Tinsukia, it said.

Goalpara is the worst hit with 1.59 lakh people suffering, followed by Nagaon with over 1.07 lakh people and Hojai with nearly 94,500 people.

Till Friday, around 3.81 lakh people were affected in seven districts.

The SDRF has rescued eight persons in the last 24 hours in Goalpara, while 9,489.82 quintals of rice, dal, salt and 11,577.16 litres of mustard oil have been distributed along with tarpaulin, baby food and other essential items.

The Kopili river at Kampur and at Dharamtul is flowing above the danger mark.

Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal on Saturday visited Nalbari district and took stock of the erosion mitigation work being undertaken near an embankment along the Brahmaputra at Doulasal-Larkuchi in Borkhetri constituency.

He directed the Water Resources Department to complete the mitigation and repairing work on a war footing.

Talking to reporters, Sonowal said when the state is reeling under flood, construction of new embankment is not feasible and, therefore, the government has taken swift action to repair any breach on the embankments caused by the flood.

Sonowal further said that though floating of tenders, giving work orders and construction work began well ahead, the COVID-19 pandemic and its resultant lockdown caused the delay in completing the construction and repair work.

At present, 348 villages are under water and 26,977 hectares of crop areas have been damaged, ASDMA said.

It said authorities are running 195 relief camps and distribution centres in four districts, where 17,770 people are taking shelter currently.

Embankments, roads, bridges, culverts and many other infrastructures have been damaged at various places in Kamrup, Goalpara, Hojai, Nagaon, Barpeta, Sonitpur and Udalguri districts.

Massive erosions have been witnessed at various places of Biswanath, Sonitpur, Dibrugarh and Majuli districts, ASDMA said. The Umrangso-Lanka road has been blocked due to heavy landslides in Dima Hasao, it added.