PM speaks to Assam CM over flood situation, assures all help

New Delhi, Aug 31 (IANS) Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday spoke to Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and took stock of the flood situation in many parts of the state.

He assured him of all possible support from the Centre to help mitigate the situation. The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has also been monitoring the flood situation in Assam and has asked National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) to send its rescue teams to the flood affected areas of Assam.

Talking to IANS, the NDRF DG S.N. Pradhan said that nine teams have been deployed in the severe affected districts of Bongaigaon, Barpeta, Kamrup, Cachar, Silchar, Jorhat, Sivasagar and Dhemaji and eight more teams have been kept on standby.

According to the reports, 21 districts have been badly hit with severe rainfall killing two children and affecting over 3.63 lakh people till August 30.

The Assam State Disaster Management Authority (ASDMA) has said that one child each was washed away in floodwaters in Morigaon and Barpeta districts.

According to an official estimate, over 1.30 lakh people were affected in the Lakhimpur district followed by 65,000 in Majuli, 41,400 in Darrang, 24,300 in Biswanath, 21,300 in Dhemaji and 17,800 in Sivasagar district.

The crops in over 30,333 hectares have been destroyed and around 950 villages have been affected till now. The state administration has set up 44 relief camps and accommodated over 7,000 people from the flood affected areas. All shelters were created following the Covid-19 protocols.

According to the Assam SDMA, Lakhimpur was the worst-hit district with 105,257 people in the area being affected by flooding followed by Majuli where 57,256 have been hit by the floods. Many people have been forced to leave their homes and take shelter in safer places after flood waters entered their homes.