Army called out in flooded Sivasagar district

Guwahati: The Army was called out in flood-hit Sivasagar district on Saturday to help the civil administration maintain surface communication as the situation worsened. Over 52,000 people in three districts of Sivasagar, Jorhat and Lakhimpur have been affected so far.
In the worst-hit Sivasagar district, a unit of National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) from Guwahati will be pressed into service from Monday, while another team from Itanagar will be kept in reserve.More than 5,000 cattleheads and poultry have been brought to six camps in the district.
Project officer (PO) of Sivasagar district Rupam Jyoti Borah said 116 villages with a population of 34,214, along with 678 hectares of crop area in the district, have been affected. He added, "Six relief camps have been opened in the Sonari sub-division where there are 2,000 inmates. The situation is bad in Sonari. We have started distributing relief materials, including rice, dal, salt, chlorine tablets and chemical packets for maintaining hygiene and treating drinking water."
Borah said, "The local unit of the Army was deployed in Sonari to maintain surface communication. One NDRF team from Itanagar has already arrived and it will be kept in reserve for deployment later if the situation worsens. Another team has left from Guwahati and will be deployed on Monday. There is no report of any casualty."
The floodwaters of Disang and Dikhow rivers, the two tributaries of the Brahmaputra flowing through Sivasagar district, have eroded many embankments. The Central Water Commission (CWC) reported that the water level of the Desang river, which is flowing above the danger mark, is showing a rising trend.
In neighbouring Jorhat district, 12,844 people have been affected while another 5,644 have been hit in Lakhimpur.
Project officer of Lakhimpur district Rajib Dutta Choudhury said the water levels of all the rivers in the district, including the Subansiri, Ranaganadi, Singra and Pabhoi, are rising because of incessant rain. "There is no displacement of population and cattle in the district so far," he added.