Flood situation improves further in Assam, toll increases to 108; Bihar deluge spreads to more areas

NEW DELHI: The flood situation in Assam improved further on Thursday though one more person lost his life taking the toll to 108 even as more parts of Bihar were affected by the deluge caused by rise in water levels of rivers originating in Nepal. The national capital, however, experienced sunny and sultry weather as the maximum humidity settled at 91 per cent.

The city’s maximum temperature settled three notches below the season’s average at 31.5 degrees Celsius.
The weatherman has forecast rainfall on Saturday. In Assam, the number of people affected by the deluge in Brahmaputra and its tributaries dropped to 12 lakh in 22 districts, an official bulletin said.

The figure on Wednesday was about 17 lakh in 21 districts, it said. Assam Governor Jagdish Mukhi visited the flood hit Barpeta and Baksa districts, where the overflowing rivers have rendered thousands of people homeless.
According to the Assam State Disaster Management Authority (ASDMA) one person drowned in the flood water in Mikirbheta area of Morigaon district on Thursday taking the toll to 108.

The toll in the landslides triggered by the flood stood at 26 taking the total number of deaths to 134, it said.
Goalpara is the worst hit where about 3.76 lakh people have been affected by the flood, followed by Morigaon where more than 2.34 lakh people are in its grip. In Dhubri the number of affected people is 1.52 lakh people.
The reports said the State Disaster Response Force, district administrations and local people have rescued 46 people from different places during the last 24 hours by deploying 102 boats.

At present, 1,339 villages are under water and 82,169.99 hectares of crop area have been damaged across Assam, ASDMA said.

The ASDMA report said Brahmaputra is flowing above its danger marks at Dhubri town, at Nimatighat in Jorhat and Tezpur in Sonitpur districts.

The deluge has so far claimed the lives of 143 animals, while 165 others were rescued in Kaziranga National Park, it said quoting the divisional forest officer of the Eastern Assam Wildlife Division.

The flood has also affected 15,24,339 domestic animals and poultry in the state during the last 24 hours, ASDMA said.

Meanwhile, more parts of Bihar were affected by floods, caused by rise in water levels of rivers originating in Nepal, though the disaster management department asserted that this has resulted in no fresh loss of lives.
According to the department’s bulletin, 71 panchayats of Madhubani and Siwan districts, which were not affected by the floods till the previous day, have now been hit by the calamity.

The number of affected districts so far has, thus, reached 14.

The number of people affected by deluge has risen to 39.63 lakh, up from 38.47 lakh on Wednesday. Death toll, however, remained stable at 11, with Darbhanga accounting for seven casualties and the remaining four reported from West Champaran. Other districts declared as flood-hit are East Champaran, Sheohar, Supaul, Kishanganj, Sitamarhi, Gopalganj, Saran, Muzaffarpur, Gopalganj and Khagaria.

Till date, 3.16 lakh people have been evacuated and moved to safe places by personnel involved in relief and rescue work, including 21 teams of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF).

More than 25,000 people have taken shelter in 19 relief camps and close to six lakh people were being fed at more than 1,000 community kitchens.
The NDRF alone has evacuated more than 7,800 people the flood affected areas of Bihar till now, its spokesperson said.

“The NDRF teams have evacuated more than 7,840 people and 265 livestock to safer places in Bihar. The teams also distributed 8,350 food packets and 2,630 kg food items among the needy,” he said.

The Met department has forecast heavy rain in north Bengal for the next three days, while one or two places in the southern districts of the state are likely to experience thunderstorms with lightning till Saturday morning.
The weatherman has forecast heavy rain in Darjeeling, Kalimpong, Jalpaiguri, Coochbehar and Alipurduar till Sunday morning.

In the northern region, Uttar Pradesh witnessed light to moderate rain at most places in eastern and western parts in the last 24 hours and more showers are likely to occur on Friday.

According to the Central Water Commission, Ghaghra river was rising in Ayodhya and Elgin Bridge along with Rapti river in Balrampur and Bansi.

The district administration has taken note of the situation and is in the process of making necessary preparations to deal with any eventuality of a flood-like situation in the near future, officials in Gonda district said.

According to officials, 23 flood outposts in Karnalganj and Tarabganj townships have been put on alert and the situation was under control as of now with no village facing any problem.

Haryana and Punjab, where the Monsoon had remained subdued for nearly a week, were finally lashed by showers on Thursday as people got much needed respite from the sultry weather.

Chandigarh, the common capital of the two states, received overnight showers and recorded a maximum temperature of 31.5 degrees Celsius, two notches below the season’s average.

According to the Met department forecast, rain/thundershowers are likely to lash parts of Haryana and Punjab over the next two days.

News Source The Times Of India