Guwahati: The flood situation in Assam further deteriorated Tuesday as 21 more persons died, while 5.64 lakh people were affected across 16 districts, an official bulletin said.
According to a late-night bulletin issued by the Assam State Disaster Management Authority (ASDMA), the worst-hit Sivasagar district reported 13 fatalities in the last 24 hours, followed by five deaths in Charaideo, two in Golaghat and one in Jorhat.
With these deaths, the toll in this year’s flood in the state rose to 31.
Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said he would visit the worst-affected districts from Wednesday to review the relief and rescue operations.
“The recent #AssamFloods, caused by the cloudburst upstream, have brought immense hardship to our people. Tomorrow I will be visiting flood-affected areas and relief camps in Charaideo, Nazira, Sivasagar, Sonari, Jorhat and Teok to review the relief operations,” he said in a social media post.
The ASDMA said over 5,64,600 people in Golaghat, Kamrup, Hojai, Dibrugarh, Biswanath, Dhemaji, Sonitpur, Udalguri, Nagaon, Charaideo, Kamrup (Metro), Jorhat, Tinsukia, Karbi Anglong, Lakhimpur and Sivasagar have been affected by the deluge, up from over 3.63 lakh people in 15 districts Monday.
The bulletin said 872 villages across 44 revenue circles remained inundated.
A total of 3,59,535 people were affected in Sivasagar, followed by 87,662 in Jorhat and 72,646 in Charaideo, it said.
Seventy-one relief camps, housing 12,284 displaced people, and 202 relief distribution centres are currently operational, bulletin said.
The Dikhou and Disang rivers were flowing above the highest flood level at Sivasagar town and Nanglamuraghat, both in Sivasagar district. The Brahmaputra at Nematighat, Burhidihing at Khowang, and Dhansiri (South) at Golaghat and Numaligarh were flowing above the danger mark.
Relief and rescue operations are being carried out by multiple agencies, including the Air Force, National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), SDRF, and Fire and Emergency Services, officials said.
Train services remained disrupted for the second consecutive day after floodwaters inundated railway tracks, they said.
Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) Chief Public Relations Officer Kapinjal Kishore Sharma said train services on the Simaluguri-Namtiali and Simaluguri-Selenghat sections have been suspended due to severe flooding in and around Simaluguri town in Sivasagar district.
The NFR has cancelled, diverted or short-terminated several trains and is operating additional special trains to assist stranded passengers.
“These special additional trains will run till Friday and are expected to provide significant relief to stranded passengers. Moreover, regular services of some other express trains between Mariani and Guwahati are also operational,” Sharma said.
In a statement, the government said that to ensure uninterrupted mobile connectivity in Sivasagar, Charaideo and Jorhat, the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has activated the Intra-Circle Roaming (ICR) facility until July 24.
The facility will allow mobile subscribers to access services through any available telecom operator if their own network is unavailable.
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