Guwahati: Five more people died in flood-related incidents in Assam and 35.76 lakh people across 28 of the 33 districts in the state are now affected, an official bulletin said on Friday.
One person each died in Dhubri, Darrang, Bongaigaon, Goalpara and Kamrup districts, the Assam State Disaster Management Authority (ASDMA) said in its bulletin.
Though the number of districts affected by the deluge increased by one since Thursday, that of the flood victims decreased by around 4 lakh.
The total number of people losing their lives in this year’s flood and landslides in the state has gone up to 102. While 76 people died in flood-related incidents, 26 were killed in landslides, the bulletin said.
Dhubri is the worst-hit district with over 8.92 lakh people affected, followed by 4.43 lakh in Goalpara and 4.30 lakh in Barpeta, it said.
Personnel of the State Disaster Response Force and district administrations and local people have rescued 2,389 people during the last 24 hours.
At present, 3,014 villages are underwater and 1,27,955.33 hectares of crop areas have been affected across Assam, the ASDMA said.
It said that the authorities are running 711 relief camps and distribution centres across 24 districts, where 51,421 people have taken shelter.
The Brahmaputra river is flowing above the danger mark at Dhubri and Goalpara, Nimatighat in Jorhat and Tezpur in Sonitpur district. While the Barak river is flowing above the danger mark at AP Ghat in Cachar and at Badarpurghat in Karimganj.
Its tributaries Dhansiri, Jia Bharali, Kopili, Beki and Kushiyara are also flowing above the danger level at various places, the bulletin said.
Embankments, roads, bridges, culverts and other infrastructure have been damaged at various places in Udalguri, Lakhimpur, Chirang, Darrang, Barpeta, Morigaon, Kamrup, Majuli, Nagaon and Bongaigaon districts.
ASDMA said that different places of Biswanath, Udalguri, Darrang and South Salmara districts have witnessed massive erosions.
The deluge has so far taken away the lives of 86 animals of different species in Kaziranga National Park and Rajiv Gandhi Orang National Park.
A one-horned rhinoceros along with her baby stands in floodwater inside Kaziranga National Park, in Golaghat district. Photo: PTI
Quoting the Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) of Eastern Assam Wildlife Division, the bulletin said 125 animals were rescued in Kaziranga National Park.
The flood has also affected 31,48,133 domestic animals and poultry across the state during the last 24 hours.
Meanwhile, Tibetan spiritual leader, Dalai Lama, on Friday wrote a letter to the Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal expressing concern over the flood situation in Assam.
“I am writing to you today to express my sadness at the loss of life and devastation of property, as well as the tremendous hardship caused to so many due to flooding in many parts of your state…”
“As a gesture of solidarity with the people of Assam, I am making a donation from the Dalai Lama Trust towards relief and rescue efforts,” the letter read.
However, the amount of donation was not mentioned in the tweet posted by the Tibetan guru’s office.
Sonowal expressed gratitude to the Dalai lama for standing by the flood-hit people of the state.
The flood-affected districts are Dhemaji, Lakhimpur, Biswanath, Sonitpur, Darrang, Baksa, Nalbari, Barpeta, Chirang, Bongaigaon, Kokrajhar, Dhubri, South Salmara, Goalpara, Kamrup, Kamrup Metropolitan, Morigaon, Nagaon, Hojai, Golaghat, Jorhat, Majuli, Sivasagar, Dibrugarh, Tinsukia, Karbi Anglong, West Karbi Anglong and Cachar.