Toll rises to 30 in Assam floods

Over 50,000 people are sheltered in 78 camps in Goalpara

The overall situation in Goalpara district of Assam remained critical on Wednesday with IAF choppers pressed into service to evacuate the marooned  as the death toll in the state in the latest deluge rose to 30.

As many as fourteen bodies were recovered on Wednesday  from the worst-affected Goalpara and Kamrup (Rural) districts  as relief and rescue work continued round-the-clock.  

Chief Executive Officer of the State Disaster Management Pramod Tiwari said that water level receded at most of the areas except Lakhipur in Goalpara district. He said that four additional teams of National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) have arrived in Assam and two of them have been deployed at Lakhipur.

Further, Tiwari said that rescue and relief operations are on by the Army, NDRF and State Disaster Response Force.  Medical teams have been deployed and relief materials are being distributed. Official data revealed that 415 villages in twelve districts are reeling under the fury of flood.

In the worst-hit Goalpara, over 50,000 people have been camping in 78 camps two days after the cloudburst in Meghalaya wreaked havoc in the district.  A team of engineers is working overnight to restore a damaged bridge at Krishnai on NH 37. Choppers have been flying in Dudhnoi, Krishnai and Bolbola to rescue the trapped people.

The situation in Kamrup (Rural) district turned grim after bodies of two women were   recovered in a paddy field in Boko area. 

Vast tracts of land have been submerged in Chaygaon, Nagarberra, Goroimari and Boko as water of rivers Kulsi, Jaljanli, Singra, Kolohi and Brahmaputra gushed in following heavy rain in Meghalaya.

Surface communication  along National Highway 37 remains disrupted where a concrete bridge between Nagarbera and Hekra was washed away.

Further, flash floods have washed away hundreds of houses at Bolbola, Molandubi, Karmakarpara, Karipara, Udaypur, Krishnai, Dudhnoi, Rangjuli, Majgaon and other parts of Goalpara and the authorities are still struggling to assess the total damage.

Meanwhile, all government and private schools, colleges remained closed for the third consecutive day in Guwahati due to flooding in various parts of the city.