Flood situation in Assam, Bihar grim; death toll reaches 209

The death toll in Assam and Bihar floods climbed to 209 on Sunday, with over 1.06 crore people affected by the deluge in the two states, officials said. In Assam, the toll reached 82 with the death of one more person in Barpeta district. A population of 21.68 lakh of 1,716 villages in 56 revenue circles of Assam is affected by the calamity.

Besides Barpeta, the 17 other affected districts are Dhemaji, Sonitpur, Darrang, Baksa, Nalbari, Chirang, Bongaigaon, Kokrajhar, Dhubri, Goalpara, Kamrup, Kamrup (M), Morigaon, Nagaon, Golaghat, Jorhat and Cachar, the Assam State Disaster Management Authority (ASDMA) said.

The rivers flowing at the danger level are the Brahmaputra at Neamatighat (Jorhat) and Dhubri, the Desang at Nangamuraghat (Sivasagar), the Jia Bharali at N T Road Crossing (Sonitpur), the Puthimari at N H Road crossing (Kamrup), the Beki at Road Bridge (Barpeta) and the Kushiara at Karimganj (Karimganj), it said.

In Bihar, there was no let up in the flood situation. The deluge has affected over 85 lakh people even though the toll remained at 127 for the second consecutive day. One of the severely affected districts, Darbhanga has so far reported 12 casualties ever since Bihar was hit by flash floods earlier this month owing to torrential rainfall in Terai region of Nepal.

Water level under a railway bridge close to Hayaghat in the district rose above the danger level prompting the East Central Railway to suspend movement of trains on the Darbhanga-Samastipur section.

Altogether 13.85 lakh people, in 200 panchayats of 16 blocks in the district are affected by the floods, the state disaster management department said. It has put the total number of people hit by floods in the state at 85.601 lakh and 876 personnel with 133 motor boats have been deployed for relief and rehabilitation work.

The IAF has deployed two helicopters for air dropping food and other relief material while the 9^th battalion of the NDRF has deployed 19 teams in the flood-affected areas.