Assam flood situation worsens, 3 lakh affected

The flood situation in Assam deteriorated on Thursday with 3.11 lakh people in 702 villages of 15 districts being affected, Assam State Disaster Management Authority (ASDMA) said.

Till Wednesday, 1.95 lakh people of 553 villages were hit by the flood in 13 districts across the state. However, the death toll remained at two -- one each in Bongaigaon and Lakhimpur districts.

The affected districts are Barpeta, Sonitpur, Dhemaji, Lakhimpur, Tinsukia, Darrang, Nalbari, Goalpara, Jorhat, Kamrup Metropolitan, Baksa, Dibrugarh, Kamrup, Nagaon and Bongaigaon, ASDMA said in its daily flood report. With 91,000 people suffering, Barpeta accounts for the highest number of affected people, followed by Goalpara with 68,000 people being affected. Authorities have opened three relief camps in Tinsukia and one each in Sonitpur, Nalbari and Dibrugarh, where a total number of 438 people took shelter at this moment, ASDMA said.

Currently, more than 10,800 hectares of crop areas are under water, the report mentioned. It said more than 42 roads, bridges and culverts were damaged in the flood, while at least eight breaches were noticed in embankments in various districts.

Almost all the major roads in the world's largest river island Majuli have been damaged by flood waters of Brahmaputra, the report said. The Brahmaputra is flowing above the danger mark at Nematighat in Jorhat and Dhubri town in Dhubri district, ASDMA added.