Assam floods: One more killed, death toll rises to 35; PM announces ex-gratia relief

The flood situation, triggered by heavy rains, in Assam has claimed one more life taking the death toll to 35 while affecting over 13 lakh people. Water has receded from two districts, however, remained critical in 20 other districts. Meanwhile, PM announced an ex gratia of Rs 2 lakh each to the next of kin of persons who lost their lives in the flood.

Guwahati (Assam): The flood situation in Assam improved marginally with water receding from two affected districts, but remained critical in 20 other districts where over 13 lakh people were submerged, officials said on Friday.

The deluge claimed a person's life in Dhubri district, raising the death toll to 35, the Assam State Disaster Management Authority (ASDMA) said.

With this, the cumulative death toll due to flooding and landslides has risen to 59 across the state.

The ASDMA said nearly 13.3 lakh persons are affected by flooding in Dhemaji, Lakhimpur, Biswanath, Chirang, Darrang, Nalbari, Barpeta, Bongaigaon, Kokrajhar, Dhubri, South Salmara, Goalpara, Kamrup, Kamrup Metropolitan, Morigaon, Nagaon, Golaghat, Jorhat, Dibrugarh and Tinsukia districts.

Barpeta is the worst hit by the flood where over 7.41 lakh people were affected, followed by South Salmara with almost 1.95 lakh people and Goalpara with 93,300 people, the ASDMA said.

The SDRF, district administrations and local people have evacuated 1,189 persons during the last 24 hours in five districts, the ASDMA said in a bulletin.

According to the daily flood report, one person was killed at Athani in Dhubri district.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday announced an ex gratia of Rs 2 lakh each to the next of kin of persons who lost their lives in the flood.

"PM @narendramodi has sanctioned ex gratia of Rs 2 lakh each for the next of kin of persons who lost their lives due to floods in Assam from the PM National Relief Fund," Modi tweeted from his PMO Twitter handle.

Earlier in the day, he spoke to Assam Chief Minister Sarbanada Sonowal and reviewed the current situation after the heavy rain and resultant flood. He also assured Sonowal of all central assistance.

Till Thursday, more than 16 lakh persons were suffering due to the deluge spread across 22 districts.

At present, 1,636 villages are underwater and 67,628.06 hectares of crop areas have been damaged, the ASDMA said.

It further said authorities are running 156 relief camps and distribution centres across 13 districts, where 11,741 people have taken shelter.

The authorities have distributed a total of 6,997.57 quintals of rice, dal and salt, and 3,304.62 litres of mustard oil along with other relief materials such as tarpaulin, snacks, candle, matchbox, drinking water, milk and biscuit.

The Brahmaputra river is flowing above the danger level at Nimatighat in Jorhat and Dhubri town in Dhubri districts.

Its tributaries Jia Bharali at NT Road Crossing in Sonitpur, Kopili at Dharamtul in Nagaon and Beki at Road Bridge in Barpeta are flowing above the danger level.

Embankments, roads, bridges, culverts and many other infrastructures have been damaged at various places in Udalguri, Baksa, Barpeta, Darrang and Dibrugarh districts, the ASDMA report said.

A total of 43 camps out of 223 at Kaziranga National Park and two out of 40 camps at Rajiv Gandhi Orang National Park have been affected by the deluge.

Floodwaters have also claimed the lives of 41 animals in Kaziranga National Park, the bulletin said, quoting the DFO of the Eastern Assam Wildlife Division.

The flood has also affected 19,14,001 domestic animals and poultry across the state during the last 24 hours, it added.

With input from PTI