Assam: Floods displace 1,50,000 people; two drown

Guwahati, Apr 24: Flash floods in Assam have claimed at least two lives, displaced over 1,50,000 people and affected about 250 villages in four districts, officials said on Saturday, Apr 24.

Two youngsters, who were went in a country boat to collect timber floating in the river, drowned on Friday, Apr 23 night in the Dibru river, a tributary of the Brahmaputra in Tinsukia district.

The villages of four districts namely - Lakhimpur, Dhemaji, Jorhat and Tinsukia, have been affected by the flash floods which were triggered off by heavy rains.

Besides inundating villages, the floods have drowned a vast stretch of the Dibru Saikkhowa National Park in Tinsukia, a government spokesperson said.

While the forest guards were forced to evacuate the place, the animals had no choice but to figure out a way to stay afloat.

"We don't know if the floods have swept away smaller animals like deer. We are unable to go inside the park due to rising water," a park official is quoted as saying in a news agency report.

Brahmaputra and its tributaries were flowing above the danger mark in at least eight places, said a Central Water Commission bulletin. Floodwaters have breached at least four vital mud embankments in the state.

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