Assam reels under floods, over 1.5 lakh affected
Guwahati: Floods in Assam have affected over 1.5 lakh people in eight districts where gushing waters of Brahmaputra and its tributaries have breached embankments at some places submerging several villages and damaging farmland.
Assam State Disaster Management Authority (ASDMA) said people are reeling under floods in Lakhimpur, Dhemaji, Nagaon, Jorhat, Golaghat, Morigaon, Biswanath and Barpeta districts.
The Jorhat district administration in upper Assam has sounded high alert in areas along the river Bhogdoi as it is flowing above danger level.
A portion of its embankment has been washed away affecting several areas of North-West Revenue Circle under Dhekorgorah Block where over 45 villages are submerged, said Water Resource Department, Jorhat Division, executive engineer Hari Prasad Milli in Guwahati.
The worst affected villages are Namoni Gayan Goan, Ujoni Gayan Gaon, Malowkhat, Muktiar Chuk, Ghorpholia, Rajakhat, Katichuk, Kolmora, Malowpam, Puharchuk, among others, district administration sources said.
Six State Disaster Management Response Force motorboats have been pressed into service to rescue people from the marooned villages, the sources said.
Hundreds of hectares of agricultural land kept ready for sowing and those with paddy saplings are submerged, they said.
Four relief camps have been set up at Ghorpholia and Dhekorgorah area where relief materials are being distributed, Deputy Commissioner in charge Jorhat, Roshni Aparanjita Korati, said.
Mobile medical clinics have also been set up in areas adjacent to the flood affected regions, Korati added.
Jorhat Superintendent of Police Amanjeet Kaur, along with her officials, made a survey with the SDRF team and distributed food materials among the marooned people.
In Barpeta district, rising water of Bramhaputra has eroded its east-south part and has flooded village Bhogerpar there for the past five days destroying vast areas of cropland.
So far more than 16,000 animals and nearly 12,000 poultry, vital to rural economy, have been destroyed in Morigaon and Golaghat districts, ASDMA added.