Date:29/10/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/10/29/stories/2008102960411500.htm

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Flash floods submerge villages in Assam

Sushanta Talukdar

Puthimari river flowing through Kamrup district breaches embankment

— PHOTO: RITU RAJ KONWAR

An elderly man being evacuated at Kendukona village in Kamrup district of Assam on Tuesday.

Guwahati: Flash floods hit Assam’s Kamrup and Lakhmipur districts on Monday night, forcing thousands of people to take shelter on embankments and highways.

The Puthimari river flowing through Kamrup district breached its embankment at Hohora late on Monday night, submerging 11 villages along the highway at Kendukona. It damaged standing paddy crop ready for harvest.

The National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and Civil Defence teams rescued the marooned people. Flood water, knee-deep at many places, was flowing across the National Highway 31 and disrupted traffic at Kendukona under the Rangiya sub-division in Kamrup district.

— Photo: AP

All afloat: Flood-affected people are being rescued by personnel of the National Disaster Response Force from the Puthimari river in Assam on Tuesday.

The last time the embankment of the Puthimari was breached by flood waters was on August 31. Official sources attributed the flash floods to heavy rains in Bhutan in the past few days. The Beki river flowing through Baksa district close to the India-Bhutan border also swelled and inundated several villages.

Damp Diwali

In Lakhimpur, the flash floods are believed to have been caused by the discharge of excess water from the Ranganadi Hydro Power project in neighbouring Arunachal Pradesh. Here too, several villages were inundated and people were forced to wade through the waters to take shelter on highways, railway tracks and embankments.

Incessant rains in the past couple of days had dampened the festive mood in the run-up to Deepavali and affected the sale of fire crackers. However, as the weather improved on Tuesday, city residents began lighting candles and earthen lamps.