Assam flood situation remained critical with three more persons perishing, taking the toll to 29 in the current deluge even as Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh made an aerial survey today of the affected areas.
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Assam State Disaster Management Authority (ASDMA) said one person each died at Kalgachia in Barpeta district, Dalgaon in Darrang district and Lakhipur in Goalpara district.
Photos: Union Minister Kiren Rijiju’s Twitter page“I did not imagine that the situation is so grave. I have spoken to the Chief Minister and his officials. The problem is a big challenge,” Singh told a press conference after making an aerial view of flood-hit Morigaon, Nagaon and Kaziranga.
“The state government currently has Rs 620 crore under SDRF. I have asked them to spend it without any hesitation. If more fund is needed, we are there and we will help in every possible way,” he said.
Around 36-37 lakh people across 28 districts have been affected by the floods, Singh said after a meeting with Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal and other state government officials.
Sonowal said 970 relief camps have been opened in which around five lakh people have taken shelter.
“This time the floods are very severe. Hundreds of villages have completely been washed away. Schools, roads, embankments have been either washed away or badly damaged. We are sincerely trying to help the people with our all resources,” he said.
The worst-affected districts are Lakhimpur, Golaghat, Bongaigaon, Jorhat, Dhemaji, Barpeta, Goalpara, Dhubri, Darrang, Morigaon and Sonitpur.
ASDMA said nearly two lakh hectares of crop area across the state are under flood waters, while a number of roads, embankments, bridges and other infrastructure were washed away.
Currently, Brahmaputra is flowing above the danger mark at Guwahati, Nematighat in Jorhat, Tezpur in Sonitpur, Goalpara and Dhubri towns.
Its tributaries Burhidehing is flowing above danger level at Khowang in Dibrugarh, Dhansiri at Numaligarh in Golaghat, Jia Bharali at NT Road Crossing in Sonitpur, Puthimari at NH Road Crossing in Kamrup, Beki at Road Bridge in Barpeta and Sankosh at Golakganj in Dhubri, ASDMA said.
Elsewhere, in Arunachal Pradesh too flood waters have risen following heavy rainfall in the upper catchment areas of Arunachal Pradesh and Bhutan as well as in the state.
In Meghalaya, at least three people were killed and two went missing as flood waters submerged the West Garo Hills district today, an official said.
Even as the back flow of Brahmaputra and Jinjiram rivers has gone down marginally, many villages were inundated due to incessant rainfall.
In Bihar, many rivers are flowing above danger level, as flood continued to wreak havoc, affecting 26.19 lakh people.
Two more districts of East Champaran and Muzaffarpur were declared today as flood-hit.
Two minor girls were swept away by waters of Burhidangi river in Bihar’s Kishanganj district following incessant rains, an official said, adding their bodies were fished out with the help of NDRF personnel.
According to the MeT office, Patna received 18.3 mm rainfall since yesterday, while Purnea witnessed 28.9 mm rains during the same period.
In Delhi, the ripple effect of the massive gridlock in Gurgaon due to flooding of streets continued to be felt with several areas witnessing crawling traffic which received highest rainfall in 10 years.
Palam observatory recorded 144 mm rainfall in a span of 24 hours from 5.30 PM yesterday out of which 80 mm of rains were recorded in a span of mere three hours from 5:30 AM to 8.30 AM today. Prior to this, the record stood at 126 mm of rain on July 28, 2009.
The chock-a-block situation in Gurgaon eased today but overnight rains contributed to slow traffic movement, an official said.
In Odisha, eight deaths were reported from Bhadrak district, while there were seven casualties in Balasore district, five in Khurda, three in Mayurbhanj and one each in Kendrapara, Jajpur, Keonjhar and Nayagarh, police said.
(With PTI inputs)
