Flash floods kill four in Assam, water receding

About 15,000 rendered homeless in at least four districts

June 15, 2017 09:34 pm | Updated 09:34 pm IST - Kolkata

Staying prepared: Local residents collect firewood during flash floods in Hailakandi district of Assam on Thursday.

Staying prepared: Local residents collect firewood during flash floods in Hailakandi district of Assam on Thursday.

In almost a repeat of last year, the tributaries of the Brahmaputra have started rising with the advent of south west monsoon. At least half a dozen tributaries on both banks of the river have risen and officially four persons have been reported dead in flash floods. Many areas in Guwahati city were inundated, but the water fortunately has been receding from most parts since Wednesday night, locals said.

Officials said Brahmaputra’s north bank tributaries — Beki, Rangnadi, Subansiri — and the ones on the south bank — Dikhow, Desang and Dhansiri — are rising.

In the Barak valley in south Assam, the Barak and Kushiyara could touch the danger levels when the monsoon becomes more vigorous. Officials said about 15,000 people have already been rendered homeless in at least four districts — Lakhimpur, Darrang, Kamrup and Hailakandi — in upper, central and south Assam. Few relief camps have been opened.

Assam had one of its worst floods in many years in 2016. Scores of people died, lakhs lost their homes and hundreds disappeared. While the residents returned to resettle later that year, their lives had changed permanently.

Korshed Molla of Darrang district, a farmer in his 70s, has moved his home and family thrice in the last couple of decades. “Even our identity is questioned, as every time we resettle in a new village people think we have come from Bangladesh,” he said. The children’s schooling is severely affected due to the constant shifting, he said.

Assam is perhaps the most flood and erosion prone State in the country. Its main river, the Brahmaputra, routinely swallows up huge landmass. The Water Resources Department of Assam has described the erratic nature of its main river and its tributaries as “a most acute and unique” problem.

About 40% of the total land area of Assam, nearly 79 lakh hectares, is flood prone and, since 1950, some 4.37 lakh hectares [7.4%] of its has been lost to the Brahmaputra.

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