GUWAHATI: Four more persons died as the flood situation in Assam worsened further after rains for the past two days.
The deaths – reported from Bongaigaon, Kokrajhar, Morigaon and Golaghat districts – took the toll to 93. Combined with 26 deaths in the rain-triggered landslides earlier, 119 people died so far.
The swollen Brahmaputra, Dhansiri, Jia Bharali, Beki, Kopili, Sankosh and Kushiyara rivers inundated vast swathes of land. Standing crop in over 1.19 lakh hectares of land was under water.
According to the Assam State Disaster Management Authority, over 28.32 lakh people from 2,634 villages and localities across 26 of the state’s 33 districts were in the grip of the deluge.
The personnel of National Disaster Response Force, State Disaster Response Force, police and locals were engaged in rescue operations. The authorities set up 456 relief camps where 47,213 people were sheltered.
At the Kaziranga National Park, 123 animals, including 12 rhinos, died till Thursday morning due to various reasons including drowning and vehicle hits. The incidents of vehicle hits occurred on a national highway that traverses beside the park.
‘Forest Man of India' narrowly escapes
Environmentalist Jadav Payeng, who earned the sobriquet “Forest Man of India”, narrowly escaped after his boat capsized on the mighty Brahmaputra in Jorhat district on Wednesday.
Accompanied by his son and a nephew, he was rowing to Molai Kathoni – a forest on a Brahmaputra sandbar that he has been nurturing for four decades – when the mishap occurred.
All three of them were washed away downstream for about 3 km by the swirling water when a mechanised boat rescued them. Later, Payeng told journalists that they saved their lives by holding on to the boat as it kept drifting away.
Solving Problem of flood, erosion
After visiting some affected areas, Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal said the Centre had constituted a national committee that recommended the setting up of North East Water Management Authority under the chairmanship of NITI Aayog Vice Chairman to permanently solve the problems of flood and erosion in Assam.
He said the Centre would take steps for passing an ordinance to this effect in the Parliament. He was optimistic that the initiative would lead to a permanent solution to the problems.