Heartbreaking Surge: 24-Hour Spike Claims 8 More Lives, Death Toll Now 56

Mahabahu Desk

On Wednesday, the flood situation in Assam worsened as eight additional people died, raising the overall death count to a Heartbreaking Surge of 56, a PTI report stated. According to information from the Assam State Disaster Management Authority (ASDMA), the floods have affected more than 1.62 million individuals in 27 districts.

The death toll includes two individuals from the Tezpur revenue circle in Sonitpur district, and one person each from Mayong in Morigaon, Naharkatia in Dibrugarh, Pub Mangaladi in Darrang, Dergaon in Golaghat, Halem in Biswanath, and Margherita in Tinsukia. Additionally, three people are unaccounted for and believed to have been carried away by floods in Sonitpur, Sivasagar, and Golaghat.

Several districts, including Hojai, Jorhat, Kamrup, and others, reported severe flood conditions. Dhubri is the worst affected with over 223,000 people impacted, followed by Darrang and Lakhimpur, which have 184,000 and 166,000 affected persons respectively.

Relentless rainfall has destroyed approximately 42,476 hectares of farmland and inundated over 2,800 villages, impacting more than 1.12 million livestock. Kaziranga National Park is facing a severe crisis, with at least 17 animals, such as a young rhinoceros, perishing due to drowning. Meanwhile, forest officials have managed to rescue 72 animals.

The floods have critically damaged infrastructure, with the Brahmaputra and its tributaries flowing above danger levels. The overflowing rivers have damaged 74 roads, 14 embankments, and 6 bridges, hitting areas like Guwahati, Goalpara, and Dhubri hard.

In response, ASDMA has established 515 relief camps across 24 districts, sheltering approximately 386,950 people. Rescue efforts have seen about 8,400 individuals saved by the combined efforts of the State Disaster Response Force (SDRF), National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), and the Indian Army, which is also active in flood-affected regions of Manipur and Arunachal Pradesh.