Assam floods: Orange alert issued for Monday, death toll reaches 71

The flood situation in Assam deteriorated on Sunday with nine more persons, including three children, losing their lives and over 42 lakh people suffering across 31 districts, an official bulletin said.

According to the daily flood report of the Assam State Disaster Management Authority (ASDMA), six persons drowned and three were killed in landslides in different parts of the state.

Among those killed are three persons, including a child, in Cachar, two persons, including a child, in Barpeta, and one person each in Bajali, Kamrup, Karimganj and Udalguri districts, it added.

Besides, eight more people are missing across five districts, the bulletin said.

With this, the total number of persons losing their lives in this year's flood and landslides has gone up to 71.

At least 42,28,100 people are affected due to the floods, the bulletin said.

Barpeta is the worst-hit district with over 12.76 lakh people suffering, followed by Darrang with nearly 3.94 lakh people affected and Nagaon with more than 3.64 lakh people hit by the deluge.

Massive landslides were reported from Cachar, Dima Hasao, Goalpara, Hailakandi, Kamrup Metropolitan and Karimganj.

Till Saturday, almost 31 lakh people were affected by the deluge across 27 districts of the state.

The weather office has issued an 'Orange Alert' for Monday, while a 'Yellow Alert' has been issued for Tuesday to Thursday.

"Widespread rainfall accompanied with thunderstorm/lightning/heavy to very heavy with extremely heavy rainfall at isolated places is very likely to continue over Northeastern states during the next 48 hours and a decrease in rainfall intensity thereafter," it said.

At present, 5,137 villages are under water and 1,07,370.43 hectares of crop areas have been damaged, the ASDMA said.

Authorities are running 1,147 relief camps and distribution centres in 27 districts, where 1,86,424 people, including 29,722 children, are taking shelter.

In the last 24 hours, 8,760 persons were rescued from various flood-hit areas.

Massive erosions were witnessed in Baksa, Barpeta, Bongaigaon, Chirang, Dhubri, Kamrup, Kokrajhar, Lakhimpur, Majuli and Morigaon, among others.

Embankments, roads, bridges and other infrastructure have been damaged by flood waters in several districts. A total of 29,28,030 domestic animals and poultry have been affected in the deluge across 25 districts, the ASDMA said.

Quoting a Central Water Commission bulletin, the ASDMA said that the Brahmaputra is flowing above the danger marks at Neamatighat in Jorhat, Tezpur, Goalpara town and Dhubri town.

Its tributaries Beki, Manas, Pagladiya, Puthimari, Kopili, and Subansiri are also flowing above danger levels.