Guwahati: The flood situation in Assam continued to remain grim on Sunday, June 2, with three more fatalities, including two children, reported over the past 24 hours, and over 5.35 lakh people affected across 10 districts.
According to the flood bulletin released by the Assam State Disaster Management Authority (ASDMA) on Sunday night, two deaths were reported from Cachar, while another was reported from Nagaon district.
With this, the death toll in the current wave of floods has climbed to 14. On the other hand, two persons, including a child, are reported missing in the Cachar district.
Nagaon continued to remain the worst-hit district for the second consecutive day where 3,03,567 people remained affected, followed by Cachar (1,09,798), Hojai (86,382) and Karimganj (20,463). As many as 39,269 displaced people are taking refuge in 193 relief camps across six districts, the ASDMA bulletin said.
Several teams of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), State Disaster Response Force (SDRF), Fire & Emergency Services (F&ES), and police and local administration are carrying out rescue and relief operations in Cachar, Nagaon and Hojai, it added.
Several roads, bridges and other infrastructures have been damaged in different districts, and an embankment breached in West Karbi Anglong’s Donkamokam.
Meanwhile, rivers Kopili, Barak and Kushiyara continued to flow above the danger level mark, the ASDMA bulletin further said.
Assam with a vast network of rivers, tributaries and distributaries is prone to flood and erosion which has badly affected the overall development of the state.
The two major rivers of the state – Brahmaputra and Barak, having over 50 tributaries feeding them, cause devastation during the monsoon season. The flood-prone areas of Assam are four times the national mark of the flood-prone areas of the country.
The state has witnessed the deadliest floods in 1954, 1962, 1972, 1977, 1984, 1988, 1998, 2002, 2004, 2012 and 2023. The annual average loss due to floods in Assam has been estimated to be around Rs 200 crore. The loss in 1998, which saw one of the worst-ever floods in the state, was to the tune of Rs 500 crore, while a loss of Rs 771 crore was reported in 2004.