8 lakh still affected in Assam floods

Assessing damage:A farmer inspects his damaged crop as the flood waters started receding in Morigaon district of Assam on Wednesday.Photo: Ritu Raj Konwar

The flood situation in Assam marginally improved on Wednesday, although nearly eight lakh people are suffering across 14 districts in the State.

According to the Assam State Disaster Management Authority (ASDMA), more than 7.69 lakh people are still affected across 638 villages in 14 districts.

Till Tuesday, nearly 10 lakh people were affected by the floods across 804 villages in 19 districts.

The death toll in the current wave of floods stood at 34 across the State.

As of now, the affected districts are Lakhimpur, Jorhat, Golaghat, Bongaigaon, Dhemaji, Dhubri, Morigaon, Kokrajhar, Dibrugarh, Biswanath, Nagaon, South Kamrup and Goalpara.

Among them, Dhubri is the worst affected with nearly five lakh people still suffering, followed by Barpeta with almost one lakh and Goalpara with 86,000 people currently hit by the floods, the ASDMA said.

Authorities are running 118 relief camps and distribution centres, where 23,405 people are taking shelter across 11 districts.

Over 20,000 hectares of crop area are still under flood waters across the State, besides washing away number of roads, embankments, bridges and other infrastructure.

Currently, the Brahmaputra is flowing above the danger mark at Nematighat in Jorhat and Dhubri town. PTI