Weathermen forecast respite for Assam in the coming days

In Bihar, two more districts of East Champaran and Muzaffarpur were declared as flood-hit on Saturday.

July 31, 2016 12:41 am | Updated December 03, 2021 12:46 pm IST - New Delhi:

The India Meteorological Department said rainfall in Assam may come down in the week ahead after Saturday’s peak. Private weather agency, Skymet also said “Light to moderate Monsoon rains with isolated heavy showers will continue to lash Assam till August 1. Rain intensity will decrease thereafter till August 5.”

A view of a flood relief camp.

August, by all accounts, is slated to see heavy rains with both the IMD and the Skymet suggesting that India will get four to nine per cent more rain than usual for the month. However the north-east as a whole is expected to get only 94 per cent of its usual monsoon quota, according to the IMD’s updated monsoon forecast in June.

Reduced rains however don’t necessarily imply a reduced flood risk as the latter is dependent on topography and disaster management efforts on the ground.

A man wading through a flooded road in the Capital.

Earlier on Saturday, Union Minister of State for Home Affairs Kiren Rijiju also surveyed the flood-hit areas in Arunachal Pradesh and Assam.

In Bihar, two more districts of East Champaran and Muzaffarpur were declared as flood-hit on Saturday. About 1.86 lakh hectares of agricultural land have been affected by the floods in Mahananda, Bakhra, Kankai, Parmar and Kosi rivers. Crops spread over 3.39 lakh hectares have been affected, but the quantum of loss is still to be assessed. The State government has deployed 112 medical teams to treat people in the flood-affected areas.

Singlehorned rhino swims through floodwaters.

Record rains in Delhi

The effects of Friday’s massive gridlock in Gurgaon due to flooding of streets continued to be felt in the national capital with several areas witnessing crawling traffic. New Delhi received its highest rainfall in 10 years, making life difficult for motorists.

A waterlogged Hero Honda chowk.

In Bengaluru, which slipped into chaos on Friday, a small army of fire and emergency service personnel, working in shifts, spent all night helping residents clean the silt-covered areas and erect temporary flood barrages (sand sacks). Last week, a joint team of the Assam forest department and the Centre for Wildlife Rehabilitation and Conservation rescued eight baby rhinos — all between a month and a year old — from Kaziranga National Park.

Vehicles move at snail’s pace due to heavy rains.

(With inputs from Imran Gowhar in Bengaluru and agencies)

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