Assam Floods 2011: 75,000 displaced
posted on Jul 19, 2011 4:45PM
Assam Floods 2011 - The Assam government on Tuesday sounded an alert as 75,000 people were displaced following heavy overnight rains that triggered flash floods, breaching roads and embankments at several places. Up to 800 villages in four districts - Lakhimpur, Dhemaji, Sonitpur and Jorhat - have been hit by the floods so far.
A Central Water Commission bulletin said the Brahmaputra River and its tributaries were flowing above the danger mark in at least eight places. An estimated 50,000 people are now displaced in Lakhimpur and Dhemaji, about 400 km east of Assam's capital. The river island of Majuli in Jorhat district had a breach in a mud embankment late Monday, leaving thousands of people stranded. Gushing waters have breached at least four vital mud embankments in the state, besides snapping road links. National Highway 52 in eastern Assam has been severely affected. A vast stretch of the Kaziranga National Park has come under water; forcing forest guards to move out of the sanctuary and making animals run for their safety.
"We have alerted all agencies. Relief materials and medical teams have also been rushed to the affected areas. Most of the flood-hit people are now taking shelter in raised platforms, on railway tracks, and in government schools and offices, so far untouched by the floods," said an official overseeing the relief operations.