Incessant rain leads to fresh floods in Assam

Guwahati, Sep 6 (UNI) Incessant rain over the past several days across Assam has led to fresh floods in many places while the Brahmaputra, Barak and their tributaries continued to flow above the red mark in over a dozen places.

Local media reports said four people drowned in this wave of floods in Sivsagar district of upper Assam. Besides Sivsagar, Lakhimpur, Sonitpur, Baksa and Barpeta were among the worst hit districts.

Hundreds of families in Sivsagar district have been affected and several villages inundated by rising water of Dikhow, Disang, Dorika, Mritong and Brahmaputra rivers.

There is fear of the embankments at several places in the district, including in Sivsagar town being washed away.

Incessant downpour since the last few days has also led to a grave flood situation in parts of Lakhimpur district. Swirling water of Ranganadi, Dorpang, Pisola, Sesa and Khona Pisola rivers have breached embankments in several places and inundated over 50 villages and vast areas of agricultural land.

Many other embankments have also been threatened and people are moving to higher places fearing sudden rush of water.

Schools have been declared closed in the affected parts of the district.

In the lower Assam districts of Baksa and Barpeta, rising water inundated about a 100 villages and washed away several bamboo bridges and roads, disrupting communication. The breach in the embankment at Narayanguri in Barpeta district that was washed away by water from neighbouring Bhutan hills recently had widened up to one km.

Parts of adjoining Kokrajhar and Chirang district have also been affected by the floods in Barpeta and Baksa.

Meanwhile, the Brahmaputra and its tributaries were flowing above the danger level in nine gauge stations this morning, informed a Central Water Commission (CWC) bulletin.

The Brahmpautra was above the red mark in Dibrugarh and Neamatighat in Jorhat and approaching the danger level in Guwahati, Dhubri, Goalpara and Tezpur also.

Among its major tributaries, the Burhidehing was flowing over the danger level at Khowang in Dibrugarh, Dihkow and Desang in Sivasagar districts, Dhansiri in Golaghat district, Jia Bharali in Sonitpur district and Puthimari in Kamrup district.

The Desang river was flowing precariously near the Highest Flood Level(HFL) at 96.02 mt in Sivsagar district. The Barak river was also flowing over the danger level at AP Ghat in Cachar district.

Its tributaries Katakhal and Kushiyara were flowing over the red mark in Matizuri and Karimganj, with the Kushiyara river also approaching the HFL.

UNI