Assam floods: 90 villages submerged,over 150,000 asked to move
NDRF teams have evacuated more than 910 marooned people
New Delhi: At least 14 people have been killed in northern Meghalaya state. Another 14 deaths were reported in neighboring Assam state, where several districts, including the capital, Gauhati, were flooded.
In Assam's worst-hit district of Goalpara, 90 villages have been submerged and more than 150,000 people have been asked to leave their homes for higher ground, said district official Pritam Saikia. Thousands of people who left were camped on a state highway as local authorities struggled to create relief shelters for them.
Eleven NDRF teams comprising over550 personnel have been deployed for carrying out relief and rescue operations in the flood-affected areas of Assam.
"We have deployed eleven teams in the state while two each are being airlifted from Patna and Odisha today. That makes a total of 15 of our teams for relief and rescue duties in Assam," National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) chief O P Singh told PTI.
He said that the teams are carrying boats and other equipment. Each NDRF team has a strength of over 50 personnel.
Following demands of the state authorities, 11 rescue and relief teams of NDRF are deployed at Boko, Goalpara, Guwahati, Sonitpur, North Lakhimpur, Tinsukia and Dhemaji in Assam while two teams have been sent to Tura and West Garo Hills in Meghalaya, he said.
"So far, NDRF teams have evacuated more than 910 marooned people to safer place," an official statement said.
Torrential rains for the last couple of days in north eastern parts of the country have resulted in flooding in several districts of Assam and Meghalaya even as heavy rains in these parts have wreaked havoc triggering flash floods in several districts of thh two states, killing ten people and leaving scores homeless.
The area is prone to flooding during the June-to-September monsoon season. In June, at least 11 people were killed in heavy flooding in Gauhati city.
Earlier this month, monsoon floods inundated Kashmir, killing more than 270 people in the Indian-controlled portion of the Himalayan region, which is divided between India and Pakistan.