Flood situation worsens in Assam, one more dies

The flood situation in Assam deteriorated today with one person washed away by the gushing waters and over 3.8 lakh people left affected in 13 districts of the state.
With this, the total number of deaths in this year's flood-related incidents has gone up to 17, including seven in Guwahati.
According to a report by Assam State Disaster Management Authority (ASDMA), a person drowned in the flood waters at Lanka in Hojai district. His body has been recovered.
The victim was identified as Mahendra Dekaraja (47).
The ASDMA said, more than 3.8 lakh people were affected in the latest wave of flood in Lakhimpur, Jorhat, Golaghat, Cachar, Dhemaji, Biswanath, Karimganj, Sonitpur, Hojai, Majuli, Barpeta, Nagaon and Nalbari districts.

At present, 834 villages were under water and over 19,000 hectares of crop area were damaged, the ASDMA said.

Over 2.05 lakh people were hit in the worst-affected Karimganj district, followed by Lakhimpur with more than 77,800 sufferers.
The authorities are running 148 relief camps and distribution centres in eight districts, where 24,675 persons are currently taking shelter.
Due to the flood waters, many roads, embankments and bridges have been damaged in Barpeta, Biswanath, Golaghat, Cachar, Karimganj, Morigaon, Baksa and Nalbari, the ASDMA said.
Currently, the Brahmaputra is flowing above the danger mark at Nimatighat in Jorhat and at Tezpur in Sonitpur.

Other rivers like Dikhow at Sivasagar town in Sivasagar district, Dhansiri at Numaligarh in Golaghat, Jia Bharali at NT Road Crossing in Sonitpur, Barak at Badarpurghat in Karimganj and Kushiyara at Karimganj town in Karimganj are flowing above the danger marks.
Meanwhile, Inland Water Transport Director Bharat Bhushan Choudhury said, ferry services on Brahmaputra in the state capital has been suspended until further order.
"Due to rising water level and heavy current of Brahmaputra as well as submerged logs and other materials, all the eight Guwahati-based ferry services have been suspended," he said.