Seven die, over 200,000 affected in pre-monsoon flood in Assam region

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With two more people dead in Cachar district, the death toll rose to seven in the ongoing pre-monsoon floods and landslides in Assam, where over two lakh people so far have been affected in 24 districts, officials said on Tuesday.

Officials of the Assam State Disaster Management Authority (ASDMA) said that two people died in southern Assam's Cachar district during the past 24 hours while five had died earlier in landslides in Dima Hasao(4) and Lakhimpur(1) districts.

According to the officials, six people remained missing in Cachar district due to the floods and landslides. Unofficial report in Cachar district, however, said that four people, including a child and two middle aged men, were washed away in different rivers in the district. An ASDMA bulletin said that at least 2,02,385 people were affected and around 6,540 houses either partially and fully damaged in 811 villages under 24 districts.

Over 33,300 people took shelter in the 72 relief camps even as the district administrations have opened 27 relief distribution centres.

The worst affect districts include, Cachar, Dima Hasao, Hojai, Charaideo, Darrang, Dhemaji, Dibrugarh, Bajali, Baksa, Biswanath and Lakhimpur.

The situation in the hill section under Dima-Hasao district of the Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) remained critical on Tuesday as rain continued to batter the mountainous region, affecting the Lumding-Badarpur single line railway route.

The Lumding-Badarpur section in Assam is the only route to connect Tripura, Mizoram, Manipur and the southern part of Assam with the rest of the country. This rail link has been cut off for the past four days causing price rise in the essentials.

--IANS

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