Assam floods: Death toll rises to 37, over 13 lakh people affected

Assam State Disaster Management Authority on Saturday said that nearly 13.3 lakh persons are affected by flooding in Dhemaji, Lakhimpur, Biswanath, Chirang, Tinsukia, etc. It further said authorities are running 323 relief camps and distribution centres across 13 districts, where 65,884 people have taken shelter.

Guwahati: The flood-related death toll has reached 37 in Assam as over 1,500 villages in 18 districts of the state remained flooded till Saturday.

The flood has affected 1,68,180,28 hectare of agricultural land, the officials of the Assam State Disaster Management Authority said.

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.

It further said authorities are running 323 relief camps and distribution centres across 13 districts, where 65,884 people have taken shelter.

Officials of the Central Water Commission said that several rivers including Brahmaputra, Jia Bharali, Pagladia are flowing above danger levels in different places of the state.

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.