Flood wrecks havoc in Arunachal, claims 2 lives

Itanagar, Sep 5 (UNI) The second wave of floods has left a trail of destruction in several districts of Arunachal Pradesh, claiming two lives besides damaging property and standing crops worth crores, of rupees.

Chief Minister Dorjee Khandu has directed the concerned authorities today to arrange immediate rescue operation either by the Indian Air Force(IAF) or Pawan Hans choppers, as a report of several persons being stranded in between the Pakke river due to flood at Seijusa in East Kameng district has poured in.

Torrential rains since the last couple of days flooded the Eze River at Seijosa in East Kameng district, informed official sources.

The flood washed away several bridges and 14 kms of road between Lower Seijusa town and Lanka and submerged the PWD Colony and Kukur Basti.

Two women of Kakoi village of Papum Pare district were swept away by flash flood in the Kakoi River, which also submerged the village under 5 feet of water. The bodies of the victims, identified as Rar Yamak (50) and Kipa Yariong (40), were recovered by legislators Ngurang Pinch and Kipa Babu with the help of the villagers yesterday.

The Chief Minister also announced an ex-gratia of one lakh each to the next of kins of the deceased.

Mr Pinch, who rushed to the village, informed that about 800 residents of the village located on the foothills along Arunachal-Assam border, have lost all their standing crops and properties.

Meanwhile, fearing fresh flood and landslide, following incessant rain since the past few days, Papum Pare district administration has divided the Capital Complex area into different sectors and assigned responsibility to different officers to monitor the situation.

The officers have been directed to alert people and various societies and ask those living in unsafe locations to move to safer places.

Officer-in-charge of various police stations have been asked to keep strict vigil in their respective areas to deal with emergencies and rescue calls. Hospitals have also been alerted on the possibility of a disaster.

According to reports, landslides triggered by incessant rains had blocked the Papu Nallah-Yupia road on Wednesday at two points near the helipad. Movement of vehicle was possible only in the afternoon The PWD department has deployed two JCB machines to counter fresh landslides.

Reports from Tirap district revealed that altogether five houses were washed away by flash flood at Tirath Jo, about 13 km from Khonsa-Longding road, on Tuesday. However, there was no report of any casualty. The river, which is in high spate, had disrupted surface communication in the district, the report added.

Roing, the headquarters of Lower Dibang Valley district, plunged into darkness for the consecutive five days, following heavy flood in the Eze River, which washed out the intake point of the 750 kw Deopani Hydro power plant.

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