Flood recedes in Assam, people leave relief camps

As flood waters began to recede in Assam, the people started to move back to their homes from the relief camps.

The recent wave of floods in the state left 32 dead and at its peak, 40 lakh people were affected.

As many as 19 districts are engulfed by flood waters as the Brahmaputra and seven of its tributaries are flowing above the danger level. The floods ravaged Lakhimpur, Golaghat, Morigaon, Jorhat, Dhemaji, Sivsagar, Kokrajhar, Barpeta, Bongaigaon and Chirang districts.

According to the Assam State Disaster Management Authority assessment report, as on Tuesday, 804 villages are still affected. Nearly 44,000 hectares of cropland across the affected districts have been inundated.

Nearly 37,000 people have taken shelter in 117 relief camps in some of the flood-hit districts, the sources said. The state government has started its flood damage assessments and restoration works on a war footing, sources added.

Park inundated
The Kaziranga National Park, known for its one-horned rhinos, has been totally devastated by the floods that reached the park last week and inundated nearly 90% of the area. As many as 21 Rhinos have died, sources said.

The flood water arrived on July 5 and began to recede from July 31, and animals have started to return back to the core area from higher grounds. Till Tuesday, at least 310 wild animals, including 21 Rhinos, have died due to drowning or being hit by speeding vehicles as the tried to cross National Highway 37 to move towards higher grounds in Karbi Anglong district.

Ten Rhino calves, between the age of two to six months, have also died. Carcass of an adult male Royal Bengal tiger was found on Tuesday, sources added. The carcass was found in Siga Forest Camp under Agoratoli Range of the park. Sources said the big cat may have died after a fight with the buffaloes.

“The flood water was higher this year as compared to the 2012 flood, but this year the animal death toll is less. We have been able to conduct successful rescue operations,” said Suvasish Das, the divisional forest officer.

So far, nine Rhinos have been rescued, while a strong search operation in the buffer area of the park is still underway.
DH News Service

Rail services hit
Narmada district in central Guajarat recorded three inches of rain, with widespread waterlogging in Rajpipla town.

The fresh inflow of water from upstream saw water level in Sardar Sarovar Dam rise to 120.21 metres, DHNS reports from Ahmedabad.

Several trains running between Ahmedabad and Mumbai were affected, with four trains, including Bandra-Vapi-Viramgam, Surat-Virar local and Bandra-Jhansi being cancelled and trains between Mumbai-Ahmedabad, Mumbai-Ferozepur, Chennai-Ahmedabad Superfast, Mumbai-Porbander and Mumbai-Ahmedabad.

The Met department has, meanwhile, predicted heavy rain across the state in the next 48 hours as three depressions have formed over the state.