Fresh landslide cuts of Mizoram town, flood sweeps away houses

A fresh landslide on Friday cut off Champhai town in Eastern Mizoram from the rest of the country, while nine kachcha houses of a town in south Mizoram's Lunglei district were swept away by flood, officials said.

A massive landslide near Keifang village snapped road connection with Champhai, a town on Indo-Myanmar border in Champhai district.

State Public Works Department was trying to clear the road and it was expected that it could be declared open for all vehicles by tomorrow, officials said.

However, National Highway 54, considered the lifeline of Mizoram which was blocked at many places due to earlier landslides, was cleared of debris.

Meanwhile, nine kachcha houses - known as Assam type houses - were swept away and 12 other houses were damaged by flood in Mizoram-Bangladesh border Tlabung town in south Mizoram's Lunglei district, officials said.

The flood was triggered by heavy and incessant rains in since Monday.

Though the waters of Khawthlangtuipui river submerged over 350 houses in Tlabung earlier, the situation improved after the heavy rainfall ceased from Wednesday night.

Some people who had been evacuated from submerged buildings in both Tlabung returned after water subsided, but there were many others who could not, officials said.