Landslide on Guwahati-Shillong Highway

Guwahati, Sep 24 : More than 72 hours of incessant rainfall has caused huge floods in Assam and Meghalaya with several villages in Goalpara, Dhubri, Lakhimpur and Kamrup (Rural) district, besides major areas of Guwahati city, inundated by water on Tuesday.

The Army, IAF, BSF and NDRF are assisting the district administration in rescue operations. IAF swung into action with its helicopters pressed into service and began rescue and relief operations in flood-hit Goalpara district. More than 500 people in the district are suspected to be still missing.

A child was killed in a landslide in Dhubri district’s Hatsingimari, while one person was electrocuted in Guwahati where a body floating on river Bharalu was also recovered, state government officials said.

The Kaziranga National Park and the Pobitora Wildlife Sanctuary were also flooded forcing hapless animals to move to highlands to protect themselves.  The National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and the State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) have been pressed into service.

In Goalpara district, the army and SDRF were assisting the district administration in rescuing the over 50,000 people marooned in 100 villages due to the deluge in Krishnai, Dudhnoi and Bolbola areas, district Deputy Commissioner (DC) Preetam Saikia said.

The National Highway 37 was water logged with tin-roofed and thatched houses in many areas in Goalpara district submerged, converting huge tracts of human habitation and farmland with standing crops into a vast body of water, Saikia said.

Heavy rains in Goalpara coupled with that in neighbouring Garo hills of Meghalaya was causing the deluge in the district, the DC said.

Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi personally monitored the situation and directed the various agencies to provide relief assistance to the affected people.

In Lakhimpur district, heavy downpour for the last two days along Arunachal Pradesh, had forced the waters of the swollen Ranganadi river to rush through a breached dyke at Kharkati, district officials said. A dyke that had breached at Borsola along with the Kharkati bund on August 14 last also caused waters from Singara river to flood the area, they said.

The flood waters have marooned over 30,000 people in 30 villages in the Kharkati and Borsola area, they added. The situation turned worse in Majuli, where several villages have been submerged since Sunday.