Floods triggered by incessant heavy rain have affected 8.69 lakh people across 1,556 villages in 21 of Assam’s 33 districts, officials said on Friday.
The day also saw nine people dying of Acute Encephalitis Syndrome and Japanese Encephalitis, taking the toll to 165 since January.
Two rivers of southern Assam’s Barak Valley joined those in the Brahmaputra Valley in flowing above the danger mark. Much of the damage has been done by the Brahmaputra and seven of its tributaries.
Barpeta in eastern Assam is the worst affected district with 3.49 lakh people hit, followed by northeastern Assam’s Dhemaji with 1.18 lakh people.
“District officials and the National and State Disaster Response Forces personnel have been evacuating people from the worst-affected areas. There are no reports of any casualty,” a spokesperson of the Assam State Disaster Management Authority said.
“We have opened 68 relief camps in 11 districts where 7,643 people have moved in. We have also set up 48 relief distribution centres,” the spokesperson added.
Data showed 27,864.16 hectares of farmland have been damaged while 3.72 lakh livestock have been affected.
The Northeast Frontier Railway reported disruption of train services due to sinking of track. This happened in Dima Hasao district, cutting off southern Assam, Mizoram and Tripura temporarily.
Officials of the National Health Mission said a total of 76 AES and JE cases were reported on Friday, out of which nine died at various government facilities. Three of them died of JE in Dibrugarh and Goalpara districts.
“There have been 1,280 AES and JE cases since January, of which 334 were JE positive. We are trying our best to minimise death, although 165 have died till date,” a health official said.
