Floods in Assam sweep away 300 villages, destroy homes and crops

Heavy monsoon rains caused floods in Assam forcing thousands to flee as the overflowing Brahmaputra river burst its bank and heavy flow of water washed away homes and destroyed crops in 300 villages in eight districts.

The worst impact of the floods was felt in Morigaon and Dhemaji districts.

Villagers have accused officials of draining off the funds meant for flood risk projects. The quality of work, they complain, has been of low quality and embankments get regularly breached.

" There have been floods in the river since the year 1979. We have rebuilt our homes 13 times and this is the 14th time we will have to rebuild our home. But the state government or local authorities, nobody makes any arrangements," said Akhilesh Yadav, an affected villager.

Agricultural land and 30, 000 animals were swept in the floodwaters and at least 5,000 people left their waterlogged villages and took shelter in the three relief camps that were set up by the government.

"Our houses have been destroyed and all our animals have been swept away. And the government has not come to help us," said a villager.

The havoc caused in Assam by the floods came a few days after devastating floods struck Uttarakhand, killing hundreds and leaving tens of thousands of people in need of aid and rehabilitation.