Guwahati
A second round of floods in Assam on Wednesday killed eight people, the highest death toll in 24 hours and taking the death toll to 46 since May.
The first flood in May was not as devastating as the second one on June 16. Governor Himanta Biswa Sarma, who visited the flood-hit area, said the extent of the damage was due to geographical factors beyond the state government’s control.
Officials of the Assam State Disaster Management Authority (ASDMA) said eight people, including a woman in Sonitpur district and a child in Darang district, had drowned and three others were reported missing in the last 24 hours.
“Since the last week of May, 46 people have been confirmed dead following two floods,” an ASDMA spokesperson said.
According to data provided by ASDMA, 16.25 million people have been affected by the floods in 29 districts, with 25,744 people relocated to 181 relief camps.
In Kaziranga National Park and Tiger Reserve, nine of the 233 underwater anti-poaching camps had to be evacuated, while 179 were flooded to “tolerable” levels. Park authorities rescued 65 animals, but 11 died, mostly wild boar and deer.
Earlier, the governor had said that heavy rains in Arunachal Pradesh, Bhutan and China had led to the recent floods in Assam. “Otherwise, the suffering of the people would have been reduced considerably due to the various flood control measures taken over the years,” he alleged.
