The state of Assam is witnessing a natural disaster with devastating floods affecting over thirty districts. Since April 108 lives have been added to the death toll and over 45 lakh Assamese civilians are bearing the impact of the severe floods.
According to officials, the Brahmaputra and the Batra are in spate. Recent updates indicate that flood waters have begun to retreat in some areas. Three districts-Cachar, Hailakandi, and Karimganj-have been affected by the rising waters of the Barak and Kushiara rivers.
The Assam State Disaster Management Authority (ASDMA) has posited that further rescue and relief operations have been put into action. Additional resources have been deployed in badly affected districts, like Cachar where Silchar is located.
The floods were a result of incessant rainfall over the past months. Their impact has spread to 103 revenue circles and 4536 villages across Assam. Totally 2,84,875 people have sought shelter in 759 relief camps in the state.
The Assam floods have ravaged 173 roads and 20 bridges while having breached two embankments each in Baksa and Darrang districts. Agricultural land has been compromised as well, with 100869.7 hectares of cultivated area being inundated. Reports of large-scale erosion have surfaced from Baksa, Barpeta, Biswanath, Bongaigaon, Chirang, and Dhubri among other districts.
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Until now, one of the worst affected areas is Silchar town of Barak Valley. Here nearly 3 lakh people have been affected by the overflowing Barak river, and 71,000 people have been shifted to relief camps.
The town has been gripped by a lack of food and security and an acute shortage of water. State and central forces alongside the army and the air force are relieving the deprived townspeople with essentials.
Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswas, who did an aerial survey of Silchar on Thursday, said, “More army columns are joining the rescue operations. We are airlifting one lakh bottles of drinking water every day to Silchar from Guwahati. We also airlifted power department engineers and technicians to repair the electric transformers.”
For rescue operations, eight NDRF teams with 207 personnel came from Itanagar and Bhubaneshwar. An army team comprising 120 members was brought in from Dimapur along with nine boats for conducting relief and rescue operations in Silchar.
In addition to these forces, two CRPF and State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) teams were airlifted to the Cachar district.
An individual act of bravery has been recorded on the part of civilians. Two young men, Dipul Deori and Ananta Deori saved two minor children from being swept away in the strong currents of the flood water in Sankardev Nagar of Morigaon district. They were fishing when the kids lost balance and slipped into the water, following which they immediately dived in and pulled out the kids to safety.
The Assam state government has started a helpline for helping stranded people in the state- 0361-2237219, 9401044617 and 1079.
Disclaimer: This article is fact-checked
Sources: NDTV, The Indian Express, India Today
Image sources: Google Images
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This post is tagged under: Assam, assam flood death toll, assam flood deaths, Assam floods, assam chief minister, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, Army in flood relief, destruction by flood, destruction caused by floods, rainfall, northeast a part of india, northeast india, indian army in northeast, northeast region, natural disaster, Natural Disaster Prevention
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