Assam floods: Heavy rains to continue, over 34,000 people across nine districts affected

Guwahati: The flood condition in Assam remained critical on Wednesday morning following overnight rainfall at several places with over 34,000 people reeling under the deluge across nine districts of the state, an official said. The Bhutan Government and the India Meteorological Department have predicted heavy to extremely heavy rainfall over the next few days in the upper catchment areas, which may result in rising water levels in the Brahmaputra and its tributaries. The Assam State Disaster Management Authority (ASDMA) said that the Royal Government of Bhutan has issued a weather advisory stating that cloudy weather with light to moderate rainfall may occur in isolated areas of the country in the next 2-3 days, potentially leading to rising water levels in the Brahmaputra and its tributaries. The agency further said that due to continuous rainfall in both the upper catchment areas of Bhutan and Assam along with release of water from the Kurichhu Dam in the neighbouring country has led to rising water levels and floods in the western part of the state. The India Meteorological Department also issued a ‘Red Alert’ and predicted ‘very heavy’ to ’extremely heavy’ rainfall across several districts of Assam over the next few days. IMD’s Regional Meteorological Centre (RMC) in Guwahati has issued a ‘Red Alert’ for 24 hours from Tuesday, followed by an ‘Orange Alert’ for Wednesday and a ‘Yellow Alert’ for Thursday. ‘Red Alert’ signifies taking immediate action, while ‘Orange Alert’ implies to be prepared for action and ‘Yellow Alert’ stands for watch and be updated. According to the daily flood report of the ASDMA, nearly 34,100 people are hit due to floods in Baksa, Barpeta, Darrang, Dibrugarh, Kokrajhar, Lakhimpur, Nalbari, Sonitpur and Udalguri districts. Lakhimpur is the worst hit with over 22,000 people affected, followed by Dibrugarh with almost 3,900 people and Kokrajhar with more than 2,700 persons, it added. The administration has been operating one relief camp in Kokrajhar, where 56 persons have taken shelter, and running 24 relief distribution centres in four districts. At present, 523 villages are under water and 5,842.78 hectares of crop areas have been damaged across Assam, ASDMA said. Massive erosions have been witnessed in Barpeta, Sonitpur, Bongaigaon, Dhubri, Dibrugarh, Golaghat, Kamrup, Morigaon, Nalbari, Sivasagar and Udalguri, ASDMA said. Places in Cachar, Dima Hasao and Karimganj have reported incidents of landslides due to heavy rainfall. Embankments, roads, bridges and other infrastructure have been damaged by flood waters in Udalguri, Sonitpur, Darrang, Bongaigaon, Chirang, Dhubri, Goalpara, Kamrup, Karimganj, Kokrajhar, Nagaon, Nalbari and Barpeta. Urban areas were inundated with many places across Darrang, Jorhat, Kamrup Metropolitan, Kokrajhar and Nalbari districts. No river is at present flowing above the danger mark. Read all the  Latest News,  Trending News,  Cricket News,  Bollywood News, India News and  Entertainment News here. Follow us on  Facebook,  Twitter and  Instagram.