Assam flood situation worsens, four persons drown

Four persons, including a child, drowned in the flood waters on Monday taking the toll in the deluge to five, even as the flood situation in Assam deteriorated following incessant rainfall affecting 80,000 people.

Three women and a child were drowned in Barpeta's Bhella town when their cropland was inundated by the rising waters of River Nakhanda, official sources said.

The four have been identified as Rehana Begum, Rita Begum, Halida Begum and five-year old Monima Begum.

Earlier on June 14, a child was drowned in a flooded pond in Ouiguri area of Baksa district.

Nearly 80,000 people have been affected by the current wave of floods, while road communication was disrupted in many parts of the affected districts.

The flood affected districts include Lakhimpur, Dhemaji, Dibrugarh, Barpeta, Kamrup (Rural), Baksa, Udalguri, Sonitpur, Nagaon and Dhubri.

Incessant rainfall in the catchment areas during the last week have led to a rise in the water level of the Brahmaputra and its tributaries overrunning vast tracts of farmland and villages in ten districts of Lower and Upper Assam and Hailakandi in Barak Valley.

In Bajali sub-division of Barpeta, surging waters of the Kaladiya river breached dykes and embankments at many places inundating villages and fields.

In Dhubri district severe erosion has been reported from villages on the banks of Gauranga river, a tributary of the Brahmaputra, while in Darrang water from the Sathtola river has breached dykes at many places with the Patharughat-Moirabari road submerged under water.