Flood situation in Assam shows marginal improvement

GUWAHATI: Flood situation in Assam remained unchanged in the last 24 hours, even as the number of flood-affected people has marginally reduced to 10.62 lakh in 20 districts on Saturday.
As per the Assam State Disaster Management Authority (ASDMA) report, the total number of the flood-affected people in the state was 10.82 lakhs on Friday evening. There was no loss of human lives due to the floods reported on Saturday.
However, the number of inmates in the relief camps has gone up from 26,161, reported on Friday evening, to 29,220. Officials in the ASDMA said that the increase in the number of the flood-hit people is mainly due to the crisis in the families and ravaged homes, though the floodwaters have receded. "Some of the flood-hit people may have returned to the relief camps, mainly for ration," an ASDMA official said. Total 75,710.86 hectares of cropland were affected across 14 districts of the state.
While Goalpara district in lower Assam remains to be worst affected by the floods with 3.40 lakh people facing a deluge, nearly three lakh people continue to be affected by the devastating spate of floods in Morigaon and Bongaigaon districts. The ASDMA report on Saturday evening stated that in Morigaon district 1.73 lakh people and in Bongaigaon 1.15 lakh population remained affected by the floods. Among the districts, the highest 12,971 people were still taking shelter in 49 relief camps in Lakhipur revenue circle in Goalpara district.
Total 20 camps are inundated, while four camps out of 223 camps are vacated due to the floods in Kaziranga National Park (KNP). Total 145 animals died and 170 animals have been rescued during this flood in KNP, as reported by the DFO of Eastern Assam Wildlife Division. In Orang National Park also four out of 40 camps remained inundated as on Saturday evening.
As per the Central Water Commission bulletin issued at 8 am on Saturday, river Brahmaputra was flowing above the danger level at Neamatighat (Jorhat), Tezpur (Sonitpur) and Dhubri.
Among the infrastructure damage reported in the last 24 hours, the embankment of Kaldia river was breached at Tihu Dekhata under Bajali revenue circle in Barpeta district, whereas in Kokrajhar, 10 roads were damaged, as reported by the district disaster management authorities.
Sources in the IMD said that continuous and high-intensity rainfall is unlikely in the northeast for at least next four to five days. This, ASDMA said, may result in significant improvement in the flood situation in the state by next week.
Though there is no warning issued by the Met office for Sunday, the Regional Meteorological Centre of the IMD has forecast that light to moderate rain and thundershowers is very likely to occur at a few places over Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram and Tripura during the day .