This story is from July 5, 2020

Two more deaths take Assam flood toll to 37, over 10L people affected

Two more deaths take Assam flood toll to 37, over 10L people affected
Villagers row a makeshift raft through a flooded field at Mayong village in Morigaon district
GUWAHATI: The floods in Assam claimed two more lives on Saturday, taking the overall death toll to 37 in the state. The fresh casualties were reported from Morigaon and Tinsukia districts.
However, the overall flood situation in the state has improved considerably as water levels of all major rivers have started receding. A statement of the Assam State Disaster Management Authority said 18 districts are still affected, impacting 10.75 lakh people of whom 6,531 are living in 71 relief camps.
As on Friday, over 13 lakh people of 20 districts were affected by the deluge.
The Brahmaputra is flowing above the danger mark at Nimatighat in Jorhat and Dhubri town. Its tributaries Jia Bharali and Kopili are flowing above the danger level at NT Road Crossing in Sonitpur at Dharamtul in Nagaon respectively.
Barpeta, where over 6.3 lakh people have been affected, continued to be the worst hit followed by South Salmara with almost 1.95 lakh people and Goalpara with 83,957 people, the ASDMA said.
The project officer of the District Disaster Management Authority of Barpeta, Nandita Dutta, told TOI, " The main reasons of the flooding in the districts are breaching of embankments, release of excess water from Kurichhu dam in Bhutan and the heavy rainfall in the districts."
The SDRF, district administration and locals have evacuated over 1,046 people in Dhubri, Barpeta and South Salmara districts in the last 24 hours. At present, 1,412 villages are under water and over 53,000 hectares of crop area have been damaged.

More than 135 embankments in 21 districts, 888 roads in 25 districts, 73 bridges or culverts in 17 districts have been damaged at various places since May 22, the ASDMA said. The National Disaster Response Force has been deployed in eight districts to meet any eventuality.
A total of 32 camps out of 223 at Kaziranga National Park and two out of 40 camps at Rajiv Gandhi Orang National Park have been affected by the deluge. Floodwaters have also claimed the lives of 41 animals in Kaziranga.
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