Assam Floods: With 7 More Fatalities, Death Toll Rises to 108; Rescue Ops On

The flood situation in Silchar remains alarming with most areas still under water and nearly 3 lakh people affected.

A vendor wades through a flooded street in Kamrup district, Assam on Friday, 24 June

(Photo: PTI)

Seven more people have died in the floods in Assam in the past 24 hours, taking the total death toll to 108 as of Friday, 24 June.

The flood situation in the state remains grim with around 45.34 lakh people reeling under the deluge, said officials. They said that the Brahmaputra and Barak rivers along with their tributaries are in spate, even as floodwaters started receding from a few areas, reported PTI.

District officials said that the situation in Silchar is alarming with most areas still under water and nearly 3 lakh people affected by an acute shortage of food, clean drinking water, and medicines.

The Assam State Disaster Management Authority (ASDMA) said that it has further expedited rescue and relief operations with additional resources deployed in the severely affected districts, especially in Cachar.

Relief & Rescue Ops Underway

According to a report by PTI, a total of eight National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) teams with 207 personnel were brought in from Itanagar and Bhubaneswar, while an Army team with 120 members was sent in from Dimapur along with nine boats for the operations in Silchar.

Additionally, two CRPF and State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) teams were airlifted to Cachar, they added. Food packets, water bottles and other essentials are being dropped by Air Force helicopters.

According to a flood report by ASDMA, Barpeta district was the worst hit by the floods where 10,32,561 people are suffering, followed by Kamrup where 4,29,166 people have been affected by the floods.

A total of 103 revenue circles and 4,536 villages have been affected over 2,84,875 people have taken shelter in 759 relief camps across the state.

The flood also damaged 173 roads and 20 bridges, while two embankments each were breached in Baksa and Darrang districts.

A total of 10,0869.7 hectares of crop area has been flooded. Largescale erosion has also been reported from Baksa, Barpeta, Biswanath, Bongaigaon, Chirang and Dhubri districts, among others.

(With inputs from PTI.)