The flood situation in Assam deteriorated further today as more than 1000 villages were affected after an embankment of river Brahmaputra in worst affected Dhemaji district was breached in the early hours.
Dhemaji district administration sources said that the swollen Brahmaputra River breached more than 100 metres of the Matmara dyke at Bengtola at 7 AM affecting 1000 villages and rendering at least 50 families homeless.
More than 100 families were still stranded in the floods and the district administration was trying to rescue them.
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The affected villages have alleged that the weak Matmara dyke as well those in Machkhowa and Sisi were being threatened but no maintenance and repair work was undertaken.
Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi had last year announced a Rs 100 crore package to repair the weak embankments in the district but the project was still not implemented.
With today’s flood damage, nearly three lakh people of the district got affected, sources said.
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The situation was worse in Dhokuana sub division of neighbouring Lakhimpur district with Lali River inundating 20 villages today.
Flood waters have also affected people of Narayanpur subdivision of the district.
More than 15 villages have been affected in the first wave of flood in Assam. Eight persons have lost their lives.
In Jorhat district, around 40 villages have been inundated in Majuli, Asia’s largest river island, in the midst of the Brahmaputra.
Senior district officials said ferry services between Majuli and Nimatighat in Jorhat town, lifeline to the river island, have been suspended as the water level was rising.
Junaimukh locality in Majuli has witnessed severe erosion in past day or two. People in the affected villages have been shifted to safer locations.