While Assam is fighting an all-out war against a COVID-19, the flood situation, triggered by heavy rains, is also worsening in the state. On Monday, four more people died taking the total death toll due to floods in the state to 24.
According to a report by news agency IANS, more than 13 lakh people in 25 of the state's 33 districts have been affected.
Officials of the Assam State Disaster Management Authority (ASDMA) said that in the current wave of floods since early last week, nine persons have so far died in Barpeta, Dhemaji, Udalguri, Goalpara and Dibrugarh districts taking the total death toll to 24 in the floods and 23 more people were killed in separate landslides since May 22.
The northeast region of the country, including Assam, Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh, is under a spell of floods. Most rivers including the? mighty Brahmaputra are flowing above danger levels in many places and inundating fresh areas everyday.
The flood-hit districts are -- Dhemaji, Lakhimpur, Biswanath, Udalguri, Chirang, Darrang, Nalbari, Barpeta, Kokrajhar, Dhubri, Nagaon, Golaghat, Jorhat, Majuli, Sivasagar, Dibrugarh, Bongaigaon, South Salmara, Goalpara, Kamrup, Kamrup (Metro), Morigaon, Hojai, West Karbi Anglong and Tinsukia.
Quoting reports of various districts, the officials told IANS: "Over 13.17 lakh people in 2,404 villages affected by the floods and over 83,168 hectares of crop areas were badly affected due to the floods. Around 27,452 people took shelter in 273 relief camps."
The National Disaster Response Force, Assam State Disaster Response Force personnel, along with local administration, are continuously working to rescue people and providing relief services.
The India Meteorological Department has predicted more rain in the coming days.
Assam and other northeastern states might have to face tougher days with worsening flood situation along with COVID-19 surge. The report adds that low-lying areas in Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya and Mizoram have been inundated.