Flood alert following heavy rain in Assam, over 80,000 affected

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A father hold his child on back to take him to school at waterlogged Anil Nagar in Guwahati on Monday.

Thousands of people across Assam have been affected after incessant rains over the last week caused several rivers, including the Brahmaputra, to overflow. The overflowing rivers have breached embankments, inundated villages and damaged standing crop, affecting over 80,000 people, according to a report by the state disaster management body.

Eighteen revenue circles in 10 districts have been badly affected by the relentless rains, stated the daily flood report issued by the Assam State Disaster Management Authority (ASDMA) on Tuesday. The districts of Lakhimpur and Dhemaji in eastern Assam, where nearly 45,000 people were affected by the overflowing rivers, were the worst hit.

In Tinsukia, another district hit hard by the relentless rains, authorities have already set up three relief camps. A sizeable portion of the Dibru-Saikhowa National Park in the district has been submerged by the rising levels of the Brahmaputra.

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The floodwaters have also entered the Kaziranga National Park, forcing animals to move to drier, safer places.

While the Brahmaputra is flowing over the danger mark in Nimatighat in Jorhat district, several villages in the river-island of Majuli have been also inundated. Solengi, Chatrang and Sessa — all tributaries of the Brahmaputra — have inundated villages and standing crops, affecting over 21,000 people in the Gohpur sub-division of Sonitpur district.

Nearly 38,000 hectares of standing crop, mostly paddy, have been damaged by the overflowing rivers, according to the ASDMA report.

Dhemaji district has recorded the worst damage, with 2,300 hectares of standing crop being destroyed while the districts of Sonitpur, Goalpara, Lakhimpur and Kamrup have also been affected.