Assam flood toll mounts to 21

Flood situation in Assam worsened on Thursday with five more deaths taking the toll to 21 in the current deluge while nearly 18 lakh people reeled under the impact. Assam State Disaster Management Authority (ASDMA) Joint Secretary Nandita Hazarika said that reports of five deaths in the floods poured in today, taking the toll in the current calamity to 21 so far.

Giving the break-up the ASDMA said, in Barpeta district, three persons have lost their lives at Barpeta town, Sarupeta and Barnagar. Hazarika said one person died at Gogamukh in Dhemaji due to rising water while one more person perished at Dotma in Kokrajhar district of Lower Assam.

She said with the five deaths, the overall flood toll now escalated to 21.

In the current wave of flood, nearly 18 lakh people are suffering across 3,374 villages in 22 districts, the officer said. The affected districts are Lakhimpur Golaghat, Jorhat, Bongaigaon, Dhemaji, Barpeta, Goalpara, Dhubri, Darrang, Morigaon, Sonitpur, Nalbari, Sivasagar, Kokrajhar, Dibrugarh, Tinsukia, Biswanath, Kamrup Metropolitan, Chirang, Nagaon, Kamrup and South Kamrup. 

Among them, Jorhat is the worst affected with more than two lakh people still suffering, followed by Darrang with nearly 1.9 lakh people and Bongaigaon with 1.8 lakh people impacted by flood as of now.

Till Wednesday, 16.7 lakh people were affected by flood across 2,964 villages in 21 districts.

Authorities have set up 703 relief camps and distribution centres, where almost 2.3 lakh people are sheltered across 19 districts at the moment.