GUWAHATI: Eleven more people died since Tuesday evening as the second wave of the flood in Assam worsened further even as the Northeast remained cut off due to the deluge in parts of Bihar and West Bengal.
The fresh deaths in Assam have taken the toll to 39 – overall 121 this year. The first wave last month had claimed 82 lives and affected 25.82 lakh people.
According to Assam’s disaster management authorities, 33.45 lakh people were affected under 82 revenue circles of 24 of the state’s 33 districts, this year.
Three deaths occurred in Bongaigaon. Dhubri, Nalbari and Morigaon recorded two deaths each. Two others had died in Nagaon and Dhemaji districts. Morigaon is one of the worst-hit districts.
The Brahmaputra and its tributaries Dhansiri, Jia Bharali, Kopili and Beki besides river Kushiyara in southern Assam were in a spate, flowing above the danger mark at several places.
The sources said 2,970 villages were affected while cropland affected was in areas of 1,43,122 hectares. The authorities set up 629 relief camps in 21 districts where 1,38,648 displaced people were taking shelter.
The swollen rivers breached embankments and damaged roads, culverts and bridges in a number of districts. The National Disaster Response Force and the State Disaster Response Force were engaged in the rescue and relief operations.
As the floods in Bihar and West Bengal damaged railway property and roads, the Northeast has remained cut off from rest of the country for the past four days.
The railway board, which earlier cancelled all incoming trains from various parts of the country to the Northeast, directed all zonal railways to cancel trains travelling beyond Malda in West Bengal and Katihar in Bihar till August 20.
“Rail connectivity in flood-affected portions of Bihar and West Bengal continues to be disrupted even after improvement of the situation today. No accessibility to most of the damaged sites has affected the restoration work. To aggravate the situation further, a railway bridge between Maniyan and Kuretha got damaged this morning disrupting train communication between Katihar and Kumedpur. This has further hampered mobilization of materials to sites. Telecommunication network in the entire section is also badly affected,” Northeast Frontier Railway chief spokesman, Pranav Jyoti Sharma, said in a statement.