GUWAHATI: With the death of four more persons the toll in the Assam floods today increased to 37 even as the number of affected people rose to 16.5 lakh in 21 districts.
One person each died in Darrang, Dibrugarh, Morigaon and Nalbari district taking the total in the second wave of floods in the state to 37, an Assam State Disaster Management Authority (ASDMA) release today said. A release by Nalbari district administration said a one-and-half-year old boy had been claimed by the flood at Barkhetri Revenue Circle. ASDMA said over 2100 villages in 21 districts were submerged in the deluge that destroyed standing crops in 1.8 lakh hectare agriculture land .
The affected districts are Dhemaji, Kokrajhar, Bongaigaon, Sonitpur, Barpeta, Goalpara, Morigaon, Cachar, Lakhimpur, Jorhat, Tinsukia, Darrang, Baksa, Nalbari, Kamrup, Dibrugarh, Sivasagar, Golaghat, Kamru (Metro), Dhubri and Nagaon and National Disaster Response Force(NDRF) was deployed in all of them.
Besides, the Army is assisting the civil administration in Nagaon district for rescue and relief operations, the ASDMA said adding nearly three lakh people have taken shelter in the 320 relief camps set up by the state government.
The ASDMA release said Brahmaputra is flowing above its danger mark at Dibrugarh town, Nematighat in Jorhat district, Tezpur in Sonitpur, Guwahati and Goalpara and Dhubri towns. The low lying areas of rhino habitat Kaziranga National Park have been flooded forcing animals to move to the highlands in the neighbouring Karbi Anglong hills, Forest Department officials said.
An adult elephant from Bagori Range of the Park was electrocuted during the day when it tried to move across it to the highlands for shelter. Another rhino homeland - Pobitora Wildlife Sanctury in Morigaon district has been completely inundated by the deluge forcing wild animals there to move to safer high grounds, while its the link roads were breached at several places.