More than 4.23 lakh people have been displaced by floods that affected 17 of Assam’s 33 districts. Torrential rain wreaked misery elsewhere in the northeast, claiming the lives of two 10-year-old girls in Arunachal Pradesh’s Tawang after a wall collapsed on their hostel.
Officials of the Assam State Disaster Management Authority said the rising waters of river Brahmaputra and at least six of its tributaries made 4,23,386 people abandon their homes and move to shelter on higher grounds. But only 1,834 people, including 281 children, have moved into 53 relief camps that the local administrations have opened for the flood-affected people.
Officials estimated crop damage on 16,730.72 hectares of farmland, breaching of five major embankments in as many districts, and river erosion threatening the existence of 19 villages. As many as 64 roads and a dozen bridges have either been damaged or submerged.
In Tawang, bordering Tibet, local officials reported the death of two girls after a wall collapsed on their school hostel. “Torrential rain loosened the earth and the wall, which was built on a slope fell on the hostel building around 3 a.m. The girls were identified as Rinchin Lhamu and Genden Wangmu,” an official said.
