Assam floods: CM Himanta Biswa Sarma to chair review meet on situation, rescue operations

Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Sunday held a review meeting on the flood situation and rescue operations in the state at the District Collector’s office in the Cachar district. Earlier in the day, the Chief Minister visited the flood-affected Barak Valley area where a resident braved flood waters to greet him with a ‘Gamusa’. The flood situation in Assam has been marginally improving, but more than 25 lakh people of 27 districts of the state are still affected by the deluge.

In central Assam`s Morigaon district, 285 villages and nearly 11,000 hectares of cropland are still under flood waters of Kopili and Kolong river. "It`s been 2-3 weeks and we are in big trouble. I am a second-year student of Higher Secondary and all my books have been ruined due to this flood", Nitumoni Nath, a local. Dr M Ali," Me and team have come from Laharighat because the situation here is very intense. Due to floods, most of people have lost their homes. Fever, cold and cough and diarrhoea has become the most common diseases this time".

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He further added, "skin diseases are also one of the concerns in this flood situation. We are trying to help the victims in all possible manner." Many flood-affected people of the Jagi Bhakatgaon area in the district are taking shelter on roads, embankments, and high lands for the last couple of days after the devastating flood-damaged houses of many villagers and inundated the entire area.

According to the Assam State Disaster Management Authority (ASDMA), four people including two children died after drowning in flood waters in Barpeta, Cachar, Darrang and Golaghat districts in the last 24 hours. The devastating flood and landslides have claimed 121 human lives in the state this year so far. The Assam cabinet on Saturday decided that teams led by Ministers of the Assam government and supported by the senior secretaries will visit the affected areas in the state shortly to oversee the damage assessment followed by the severe flood in Assam.

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The Post Disaster Needs Assessment (PDNA) of the entire state would also be arranged for damage assessment. The cabinet meeting was held under the chairmanship of the Assam Chief Minister. On the other hand, the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) personnel of Itanagar and Bhubaneswar as well as prepositioned NDRF teams in Assam along with the Indian Army, SDRF, Fire and Emergency personnel, Police Force and AAPDA MITRA Volunteers are helping the district administrations in rescue operations and relief distributions. The water level of Kopili is still flowing above the danger level mark at Kampur in Nagaon district and Dharamtul in Morigaon district and Brahmaputra river in Dhubri.