Incessant rainfall in Assam has led to worsening of the flood situation in the State on Wednesday triggering fresh inundation and landslides in 23 districts that left 10 more dead, taking the toll in this wave of floods to 20.
While a woman and her two children were buried in a landslide at Dhirenpara area of the city, two others met a similar fate in Dima Hasao district and one each in Dhemaji, Lakhimpur, Nagaon, Kamrup(Rural) and Cachar districts, official sources said.
The 23 affected districts are Tinsukia, Darrang, Bongaigaon, Jorhat, Kamrup (Metro), Golaghat, Cachar, Kokrajhar, Nalbari, Sonitpur, Karbi Anglong, Dima Hasao, Nagaon, Dibrugarh, Sivasagar, Dhubri, Kamrup(Rural), Karimganj, Hailakandi, Morigaon, Lakhimpur, Dhemaji and Goalpara, the sources said.
Heavy rainfall has caused Brahmaputra to swell and is threatening to submerge Majuli, Asia’s largest river island in Jorhat district, where a red alert has been sounded after the river breached its embankments at Sonowal Kachari.
Water levels of various rivers are rising in both Brahmaputra and Barak valleys, while landslides have disrupted road and rail networks at the Dima Hasao hill district.
Jorhat district officials said a National Disaster Response Force team will soon arrive from Kolkata for relief and rescue operations in Majuli where over 50,000 families were affected by the flood in the island.
Road service in the island has been disrupted due to submergence of many roads. State Minister for Water Resources and local MLA Rajib Lochan Pegu visited the island, where six camps were set up for rehabilitation.
In Lakhimpur district over two lakh people have been affected by flood in Brahmaputra and Subansiri rivers, among others. The NDRF has started operations in the district, as well as in neighbouring Dhemaji, where over 2.5 lakh people have been affected.