Flood hit over 33,830 people in 3 districts of Assam

Guwahati, Oct 12 (IANS) Heavy downpour during the past 24 hours in Assam's Dhemaji, Dibrugarh, and Lakhimpur districts has led to the inundation of many areas of 46 villages, affecting over 33,830 people, on Tuesday, officials said.Officials of the Assam State Disaster Management Authority (ASDMA) said that six relief distribution centres were opened to provide relief materials to the affected people, including 8,378 children.The officials said that an embankment at Naoboicha in Lakhimpur has been damaged, while roads in Lakhimpur and Dhemaji have been badly affected.Reports of erosion in many places of Bongaigaon, Dhemaji, Dibrugarh, Morigaon, and Sonitpur districts have also been reported, an ASDMA bulletin said.The Brahmaputra river is flowing above the danger level at Nematighat in Jorhat district.The Regional Meteorological Centre in Guwahati, predicted that rain with thunderstorms and lightning is likely to occur in various places in 21 districts during the next two days.In the first wave of floods, Assam, like previous years, had witnessed one of the worst deluges in May-June this year, with floods and landslides claiming lives of around 200 people.Union Home Minister Amit Shah, during a meeting on flood management in Guwahati on Friday, said that a meeting with the Ministry of Jal Shakti, Power and the state government would soon be convened to look at measures to include more flood moderation storage reservoirs along with hydro projects in Assam to mitigate floods in the state.Shah had said that the state government should come up with a concrete action plan to protect and rejuvenate the wetlands in the state and increase their holding capacity so that they can also act as storage reservoirs during monsoon.
--IANS sc/vd

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