Toll in Bihar and Assam floods climbs to 197
In Bihar, 17 more people died on Wednesday and six people were killed in Assam.
The toll in floods in Bihar and Assam rose to 197 on Wednesday, according to the state governments’ daily bulletins.
In Bihar, 17 people were killed on Wednesday, taking the number of deaths to 123, said the state disaster management authority. Six more people died in Assam, pushing up the toll to 74.
Bihar
The worst-affected district in the state is Sitamarhi, where 37 people have died, according to the state disaster management department. Thirty people have died in Madhubani district, and in Muzaffarpur district the figure has risen from two to four.
The number of people affected by the floods stands at 81.57 lakh in 105 blocks of the 12 districts in the state.
Water levels were reportedly receding in several districts, and as a result the number of relief camps and those taking shelter there have gone down considerably, unidentified officials told PTI.
The state has been receiving above normal rainfall for the past couple of days. It was hit by floods earlier this month because of torrential rainfall in catchment areas of neighbouring Nepal.
Assam
The Assam State Disaster Management Authority on Wednesday said three people died in Nalbari, Barpeta, and Dhubri districts, and three were killed in Morigaon district, taking the toll to 74.
The flood waters have inundated vast swathes of 20 of all 33 districts, and affected 34 lakh people. Around 3,000 villages also remain inundated. Though water had receded in Biswanath and Karbi Anglong districts, the deluge hit Lakhimpur and Baksa again, PTI reported.
According to the authorities, 826 relief camps are operational in the districts of Baksa, Nalbari, Barpeta, Chirang, Bongaigaon, Kokrajhar, Dhubri, Goalpara, Kamrup, Morigaon, Nagaon, Golaghat and Jorhat. Around two lakh people have been shifted to these shelters.
The water level in rivers is still above the danger level in several parts of the state, including the Brahmaputra at Neamatighat in Jorhat and Dhubri, the Jia Bharali at NT Road Xing in Sonitpur, the Manas river at NH Road, the Xing in Barpeta and the Sonkosh at Golakganj in Dhubri.
The floods have also killed more than 200 animals in the state, including 17 endangered rhinos in Kaziranga National Park, AFP reported.
An alert has been issued for lower Assam since Bhutan is expected to release water from its dams due to an over-flooded river, NDTV reported. As the water will flow directly into lower Assam districts, more teams of the National Disaster Response Force have been rushed to the region, and the Army has been put on stand-by.