JOIN USThe overall flood situation in Assam continues to remain grim with two youths drowning in the Janji river at Teok in Jorhat district of upper Assam as the Brahmaputra river was flowing above the danger level at various places.
In Morigaon district, the Bhuragaon embankment was in critical shape and the administration issued a warning that it might give in any moment. Official sources said, till now as many as 4.70 lakh people in 15 districts in Assam have been affected by the floods.
Roads and communication links have been damaged at various places. A buffalo and a hog deer died in the flood waters at Kaziranga National Park, while it is still flooding at the one-horn rhino habitat of Pobitora Wildlife Sanctuary.
According to reports, the surging water submerged vast tracts of human habitation and farmland with standing crops in Bhuragaon and Mayong revenue circles of Morigaon triggering erosion, threatening buildings, district authorities said.
Erosion took a serious turn at the main dyke of the Brahmaputra at Bhuragaon point and threatened to submerge the revenue circle office, police station, Bhuragaon College and the main market there.
Eighty per cent of Pobitora is now under floodwaters, which has forced the rhinos and other wild animals there to take shelter on highlands, wildlife sanctuary authorities said.
No poaching has been reported from the sanctuary, which is about 30 km from Guwahati, and the forest staff there are maintaining a round-the-clock vigil, authorities said.
The 38.8 sq km Pobitora Wildlife Sanctuary has a dense population of great Indian one-horned rhinoceros in its only 16 sq km effective rhino habitat.
Dhemaji, Lakhimpur, Dibrugarh, Nagaon, Jorhat, Golaghat and Sonitpur districts were reeling under the impact of the flood, which had claimed two lives so far and affected nearly two lakh people.
In the worst-hit Lakhimpur district, the tributaries of the Brahmaputra river were rising menacingly, affecting over 100 villagers under Dhakuakhona, Naoboisa, Bihpuria, Narayanpur, North Lakhimpur and Subansiri revenue circles, official added.
Meanwhile, the recent report of the state’s Economic Survey puts the loss from floods at an astronomical Rs 200 crore in average per year. As per the report, the perennial problem submerges 40 per cent of the state’s total land. In fact, the extent of loss rose to the tune of Rs 500 crore in 1998. During 2004, it went up to Rs 771 crore.