Southwest Monsoon covers most of North East: Assam, Tripura, Manipur, Mizoram hit by flooding; rains to continue today

Incessant rain since Tuesday wreaked havoc in parts of the North East, triggering flash floods and leading to the relocation of thousands in Assam, Manipur, Mizoram and Tripura. The Southwest Monsoon has already covered most of the four northeastern states, India Meteorological Department (IMD) officials in Guwahati and Agartala were quoted as saying by IANS. The weakening of the monsoon circulation pattern is likely to lead to stagnation in further advance of southwest monsoon for the coming week, according to the IMD. Though this might result in reduced rainfall activity over interior parts of south peninsula, central and eastern parts of India, the enhanced rainfall activity over northeastern states is likely to continue till Friday. The IMD predicted Assam and Meghalaya will receive “heavy to very heavy” rainfall in isolated places on Thursday, while Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, Tripura, and Arunachal Pradesh are likely to witness heavy rainfall in isolated places. No rainfall activity is expected in Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, and Tripura on Friday, according to the IMD. Assam Four trains were suspended on Thursday due to land slide on Lumding-Badarpur hill section following heavy rain in the area, according to ANI. No passenger train was stranded due to this and restoration work currently underway. In Assam, over 1.4 lakh people have been affected in 222 villages under eight revenue circles in the districts of Biswanath, Karbi Anglong West and Karbi Anglong East, Golaghat, Karimganj and Hailakandi, according to the Assam State Disaster Management Authority (ASDMA) report issued on Wednesday. [caption id=“attachment_4510075” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  People walk through the flood waters after heavy rains, in Imphal on Wednesday. PTI[/caption] Karimganj in the Barak Valley remained the worst-hit with the breaching of the Longai river at Nayadhar area. The State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) has so far evacuated 124 people in the district. The authorites have opened 71 relief camps with Karimganj having the highest of 54, followed by Hailakandi 16 and Golaghat one. In total, 10,710 people have taken shelter in relief camps with Karimganj having the highest at 10,100. The flood situation in the other districts of the state is also being closely monitored, the officials said. Tripura In Tripura, over 3,500 families have been rendered homeless due to rains. Though rain stopped on Wednesday morning, over 500 families have been evacuated to six relief camps in west Tripura’s Sadar sub-division as their homes were submerged. Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb spoke to Union home minister Rajnath Singh on Thursday on the flood situation and requested the Centre to provide immediate assistance from army for rescue and evacuation operation. In a tweet, he said that the home ministry assured to provide all necessary support from the central government. According to an official of the Tripura Disaster Management Control Centre, at least four people, including two aged men and a teenager, died across Tripura due to landslides, falling trees or fishing in flooded rivers. “We have kept ready a Pawan Hans helicopter and sent requisition to the Indian Air Force (IAF) to provide two more copters to rescue marooned people and to provide relief to the affected families if necessary,” the official told IANS.   Deb who took an aerial survey in the worst-affected parts in the north of the state and reviewed the latest situation arising due to the heavy downpour, urged the people residing in low-lying areas to move to safer places or relief camps.

Assured the citizens in the relief camps of all possible help from the State Government. Announced Rs.5 lac ex-gratia payment for the kin of the deceased. The Government of #Tripura stands firmly with its people in this hour of need. pic.twitter.com/q2Oy5Mzxz7

— Biplab Kumar Deb (@BjpBiplab) June 13, 2018

The water level in Howrah river, which passes through Agartala, was flowing slightly below the danger level at 12 pm, Sub-Divisional Magistrate (SDM) Sadar Tapan Kumar Das said. The Assam-Agartala National Highway, considered to be the lifeline of the state, was opened for vehicular movement after debris were cleared late on Tuesday night. The road remained cut off for several hours due to land slips at Atharamura hill on Tuesday. According to the latest report of the State Emergency Operation Centre (SEOC), over 3,500 families are lodged in 89 relief camps as heavy downpour inundated their houses in some sub-divisions. Mizoram Hundreds of people were displaced in Mizoram due to the floods, mudslides and landslides even as waters receded, state disaster management and rehabilitation department officials said. A Mizoram government press release said that heavy rainfall with intermittent squalls continued to batter the entire state since Sunday night, wreaking havoc and causing large scale damage to public infrastructure and private property in many parts of the state. The situation improved after the rain stopped from Tuesday midnight. Thousands of people were evacuated to safer places as many houses were submerged as the river Khawthlangtuipui in south Mizoram’s Lunglei district and Tlawng river in Aizawl district swelled due to extremely heavy monsoon downpours since Sunday night. While no loss of lives was reported, over 10 people were injured in the mudslides and landslides which also destroyed over 30 houses across the state. Many places, including Lunglei district, remained cut off from the rest of state due to the landslides which was triggered by heavy rain. The state government ordered a two-day holiday on Wednesday for educational institutions due to the inclement weather. Police and other government employees have been alerted for any eventuality. Last week, 10 people were killed and four others, including minor children, injured during a landslide at Lunglawn in the state’s Lunglei district. Manipur In Manipur, several low-lying areas in Imphal East, Imphal West, Thoubal and Bishenpur districts have been inundated, officials said. The General Administration Department had declared a holiday on Wednesday for all government offices and educational institutions due to the inclement weather conditions. All schools in the Imphal Valley, barring Jiribam district, will remain closed on Friday as well. Although the rain stopped in the morning, the meteorological department has predicted more showers till Friday. In Thoubal district, at least a hundred houses have been flooded by the overflowing Thoubal river, forcing residents to take shelter in relief camps. The Imphal river at Minuthong in the state capital is flowing at the “highest flood level”. The Irilbung and Lilong rivers are also flowing at the danger level, officials said. According to private weather forecaster  Skymet Weather, despite making an on-time arrival , the pace of the Southwest Monsoon is slow this time. “North East India is one of the rainiest pockets of the country during the Southwest Monsoon season and almost 30 percent of the seasonal rainfall is contributed by this region. However, until 10 June, North East was rainfall deficient by 49 percent,” it said. The IMD had earlier said that the entire country is likely to get normal monsoon this year, barring the east and North East, which are likely to witness “below normal” rainfall. With inputs from agencies