Major flood in Assam, Bihar rivers in spate

Guwahati, July 3: More than 2,00,000 people have been displaced and over 300 villages submerged in the past two days in Assam following flash floods, triggered by heavy monsoon rains, with Assam government sounding an alert.

Disclosing this here on Friday, the state revenue and rehabilitation minister Bhumidhar Barman said that four districts of Lakhimpur, Dhemaji, Jorhat and Nagaon had been hit by the floods. Barman said, “With the damage of the Matmora embankment, the world’s largest river island Majuli was also under threat.”

Most of the displaced people are now taking shelter in makeshift camps set up on raised embankments, he said, adding, “The administration was providing food and medical support to the flood-hit people.”

There had been several breaches in the embankments of Dhakhukhana in the eastern Lakhimpur district, while at least two dykes had been washed away in river island of Majuli in Jorhat district. The central water commission bulletin said that main Brahmaputra river and its tributaries were flowing above the danger level in at least eight places.

Meanwhile, major rivers in north Bihar, especially the Kosi, Gandak, Budhi and Bagmati, are in spate following heavy rains in their catchment areas and are posing a threat of floods, officials said on Friday.

With heavy rainfall recorded in the catchments areas in neighbouring Nepal, the water levels of these rivers have been rising to dangerous levels for the last two days.

“The Bagmati has crossed the danger mark at some points and the water level in Gandak also increased following water discharge into the river from Nepal,” said an official.