The flood situation in Assam continued to remain grim on Sunday with over 2.2 million people still affected in 28 districts, said a government report issued in the evening.
With five more deaths due to drowning including that of one woman and four children recorded during the day, the total death toll in floods and landslides in the state since April rose to 127. Search is underway to locate two men swept away by flood waters in Darrang and Dhubri districts on Sunday.
At present 217,413 people displaced by floods are taking shelter in 680 relief camps set up in 23 of the affected districts. Of them nearly half (1,09,623) are residing in 230 camps in one of the worst-affected Cachar district alone.
Large parts of the state’s second biggest urban centre, Silchar, the headquarters of Cachar district in Barak Valley, continued to remain flooded under 5-8 feet of water and nearly 200,000 residents facing shortage of food, water and other essentials for the seventh consecutive day.
Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma undertook a visit to Silchar town in Barak Valley on Sunday morning (his second visit to the headquarters on Cachar district in four days) and said rescue and relief work in view of unprecedented flooding has been tremendous.
Since Monday following overflowing of Barak River, which flows along the town, and a man-made breach on the Betukhandi embankment (located around 6 km away) on Sunday, large scale flooding which residents say is unseen in the town’s history has affected residents.
{{/usCountry}}Since Monday following overflowing of Barak River, which flows along the town, and a man-made breach on the Betukhandi embankment (located around 6 km away) on Sunday, large scale flooding which residents say is unseen in the town’s history has affected residents.
{{/usCountry}}“Under the present circumstance, which is unprecedented, the Cachar district administration and all other agencies involved in rescue and relief have done tremendous work,” Sarma told journalists in Silchar.
On Thursday, the CM had undertaken an aerial survey of the district and interacted with officials of three districts in Barak Valley, Cachar, Karimganj and Hailakandi, which are affected by floods.
On Sunday, Sarma surveyed some flooded areas in Silchar on an inflated boat and also spoke to affected resident. Cachar deputy commissioner Keerthi Jalli accompanied the CM.
“I think the situation in Silchar will improve slowly. If there is no fresh rainfall, flooding in the town should come down in the next 48 hours,” Sarma said.