Flood situation worsens in Assam, 5 die; 4,500 families homeless in Tripura

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New Delhi: The flood situation in Assam worsened on Saturday, with five deaths reported while flash floods affected three districts in Tripura where at least 4,500 families were rendered homeless.

Mainly clear skies prevailed in the national capital with the maximum temperature settling at 34.9 degrees Celsius.

The minimum temperature was pegged at 27.7 degrees Celsius, a Met department official said.

The humidity level oscillated between 78 and 58 per cent.

According to a report by the Assam State Disaster Management Authority (ASDMA), two persons died in Dhemaji and one person each in Lakhimpur, Kokrajhar and Morigaon districts.

With these, the total number of persons losing their lives in this year's flood-related incidents across Assam went up to 89.

ASDMA said 11 lakh people were affected in Dhemaji, Lakhimpur, Biswanath, Sonitpur, Baksa, Barpeta, Bongaigaon, Chirang, Kokrajhar, Dhubri, South Salmara, Morigaon, Golaghat, Jorhat, Majuli, Sivasagar, Charaideo, Dibrugarh and Tinsukia districts.

The ASDMA report said Dhubri was the worst-affected where 1.92 lakh people were hit, followed by Dhemaji where 1.51 lakh people have been affected by the calamity.

Currently 1,752 villages were under water and over one lakh hectare crop area have been damaged, ASDMA said.

The flood has damaged embankments, roads, bridges and other infrastructures in Dhemaji, Darrang, Chirang, Kokrajhar, Bongaigaon, Charaideo, Dhubri, Tinsukia, Sivasagar, Majuli, Sonitpur, Lakhimpur, Barpeta, Baksa, Dima Hasao, Golaghat and Morigaon districts.

Three districts of Tripura were affected by flash floods due to incessant rains and at least 4,500 families were rendered homeless, official sources said.

More than 2,000 families were forced to take refuge in different government buildings as large part of the state capital and its low lying outskirts were inundated, state Revenue Minister Badal Chowdhury, who along with District Magistrate of West Tripura district, Milind Ramteke visited the affected areas said.

Chowdhury said the water was flowing above the danger level in Howrah river.

District Magistrate of Sipahijala Pradip Chakraborty said that at least 2,500 families were affected due to flood in the district and were sheltered in 60 relief camps opened in the government buildings.

Chowdhury said many parts of Khowai district were also inundated and many people were rendered homeless.

Director of Meteorological department Dilip Saha said the regional weather station here recorded 116.55 mm of rains.

Very heavy rains continued to lash the sub-Himalayan districts of West Bengal with many places receiving extremely heavy precipitation leading to a deluge, the Met department said.

The highest rainfall in the state was recorded at Hasimara in Alipurduar district at 480 mm, it said.

The West Bengal government said it was tackling on war footing the flood in north Bengal, where it has impacted five districts and inundated about 100 tea gardens.

"We have already opened control rooms and I am personally involved in monitoring and management. The state is working on a war-footing to tackle the flood situation in the region which is facing heavy rainfall," state irrigation minister Rajib Banerjee told PTI.

"Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is monitoring the situation. All steps are being taken, including sending of relief materials," he said.

Coochbehar, North Dinajpur, Alipurduar, Jalpaiguri and Darjeeling are the five districts which have been affected by the flood.

About 100 tea gardens were reported to be affected across north Bengal in the flood and it was apprehended that tea production in the region would be less.

Light to moderate and heavy to heavy rainfall occurred in most places of north east, north central and north west parts of Bihar, Met office said.

As per Met bulletin, Purnea registered 108.8 mm rainfall among four major cities during the day.

In Himachal Pradesh, moderate rains occurred in some parts as monsoon remained subdued and there was no significant change in maximum and minimum temperatures.

Aghar was wettest in the state with 42 mm rains.

The maximum temperatures hovered around normal at most places in Punjab and Haryana.

Union Territory Chandigarh recorded a maximum temperature of 33 degrees Celsius.

In Haryana, Ambala recorded a maximum of 34.3 degrees Celsius.

In Punjab, Amritsar recorded a high of 36 degrees Celsius.