Assam flood situation deteriorates

GUWAHATI: Assam's flood situation deteriorated today as incessant rains breached embankments inundating several villages, vast tracts of cropland and affecting nearly two lakh people.

The current deluge has so far claimed eight lives in the state and nearly two lakh people have been affected, official sources said.

Altogether 14 districts have been affected by the floods. The districts are Lakhimpur, Dhemaji, Dibrugarh, Tinsukia, Barpeta, Kamrup (Rural), Baksa, Sonitpur, Chirang, Bongaigaon, Nalbari, Nagaon, Morigaon and Dhubri.

The sources said the Brahmaputra river and its tributaries are in spate and flowing above the danger mark at several places in the 15 affected districts of the state.

The water level of the river was also rising alarmingly in Tinsukia and Dibrugarh districts and Dibru-Saikhowa National Park, famous for its ferral horses and white-winged wood duck, has been inundated, forcing animals to move to safer uplands.

In Jorhat district, the rising water level of Bhogdoi river breached the embankment at Bormer, inundating 20 villages and roads in different parts of the district.

The famed Kaziranga National Park is under threat of being inundated by the deluge as well. There are reports of animals from the sanctuary moving to highlands and the situation is being closely monitored, officials said.

More than 7500 hectares of cropland have been inundated while road communication remains disrupted in several parts of the affected districts.