7 dead in Assam floods, many homeless in Arunachal

GUWAHATI/ITANAGAR: The flood situation continued to remain grim in Assam and Arunachal Pradesh on Sunday. One more person died and over six lakh people have been affected in Assam while over 100 families in Arunachal were rendered homeless.
The Assam State Disaster Management Authority (ASDMA) said one person died in Lakhimpur district’s north Lakhimpur area, where over 50,000 people in 130 villages have been affected.The toll now stands at seven. About 1,206 villages in 14 districts have been affected by the deluge, with Goalpara and Tinsukia being the worst affected districts.
“Life in the numerous chars (sand islands on Brahmaputra) in Barpeta is miserable. Livestocks are dying and there is a possibility of an epidemic. The water are at knee-high level in almost all the chars,” activist Abdul Kalam Azad said.
Arunachal deputy CM Chowna Mein, who dashed to the state capital on Saturday from New Delhi, visited the flood-affected districts of Lohit, Namsai, East Siang, Lower Dibang Valley and Changlang to take stock of the situation. “Leave no stone unturned in order to help mitigate the problem,” Mein said.
Assam CM Sarbananda Sonowal on Sunday reviewed the flood situation with water resources minister Keshab Mahanta and rural development minister Naba Kumar Doley. Sonowal has asked the relief and rescue operations to be intensified.
The rising Brahmputra has also inundated vast swathes of the Kaziranga National Park as well as the Dibru Saikhowa National Park. “About 60% of the 430-sq km area of Kaziranga is under water. There has been no large-scale migration of animals to higher grounds,” Kaziranga divisional forest officer Suvasish Das said.