Assam floods situation worsens as 34 lakh people affected, death toll rises to 61

Heavy monsoon rains over the previous few weeks have led to large flooding in Assam with the dying toll rising to 61 on Wednesday. The rains have inundated 3371 villages and affected 34 lakh individuals in 28 of the whole 33 districts within the state. A complete of 44,000 individuals have been evacuated and shifted to 500 shelter properties. 

Of the 28 districts affected the worst hit are Barpeta, Dhubri and Morigaon. The Brahmaputra River is flowing above the hazard stage at a number of places in Guwahati, Dibrugarh, Dhubri, Goalpara, Jorhat, Lakhimpur, Nagaon, Kamrup, Barpeta, Hailakandi, Karimganj and Sonitpur districts.

The floodwaters have submerged 1.28 lakh hectares of crop space within the affected districts.

Several groups of the National Disaster Response Force, and State Disaster Response Force personnel, together with the native administration, are repeatedly working to rescue the affected individuals and render reduction companies, together with distribution of reduction materials to the marooned villagers.

Flood in numerous elements of Assam inundated giant swathes of land in Kaziranga National Park, a World Heritage web site, killing no less than 51 wild animals although 102 animals have been rescued, information company IANS reported on July 14. Officials advised IANS that many tigers and rhinos had strayed into the close by villages on account of flooding of their habitats.

Officials of the Kaziranga National Park and the Assam State Disaster Management Authority (ASDMA) stated 95 per cent of the nationwide park`s 430 sq km space was now flooded, with site visitors motion on the National Highway-37 close to Kaziranga now suspended. According to the officers, 45 hog deer, three wild boars and one rhino, one wild buffalo and a swamp deer perished within the floodwater. Of the rescued animals, 86 have been hog deer.

Park Director P. Sivakumar stated that rising water stage within the park areas had pressured three sub-adult tigers to stray right into a goat-shed in Kandolimari village and close by areas. “Two of the tigers have already been driven back into the parking area and efforts are on to locate the third tiger,” Sivakumar advised IANS over the telephone.

Formed in 1908, the Kaziranga National park, a UNESCO World Heritage web site since 1985, is house to greater than 2,200 one-horned Indian rhinoceros, roughly two-thirds of the whole world inhabitants.

Each 12 months, the monsoon floods inundate the National Park, situated on the sting of the Eastern Himalayan biodiversity hotspots of Golaghat and Nagaon district, forcing a lot of the wild animals to depart the park and head in the direction of the close by hills in Karbi Anglong district by crossing National Highway-37 that passes close to the park`s boundary.

According to the officers, 45 animals, principally hog deer, have been injured on account of flood and one by car hit. Of the 223 camps of forest personnel guarding the park, 173 have been inundated and 14 others vacated on account of rising water ranges.