Floods, landslides claim 9 lives in North-East

GUWAHATI/DIBRUGARH: Nine lives were lost due to continuous rainfall triggering landslides and worsening the flood situation in the northeast in the last 24hours, even as the IMD has issued an “orange warning” in Assam, Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh and Nagaland for the next three days.

The number of people affected by floods in Assam surged to 11.34 lakh across 28 districts on Tuesday — up from 6.44 lakh in 19 districts on Monday.The season’s flood-related death toll in Assam since May has gone upto to 38.
While two persons drowned in Tinsukia, another one was swept away in Dhemaji district in Assam. The deceased have been identified as Chilabanuch Tirki (44), Dombeswar Sonowal (23) and Santosh Das (75). In Cachar district, Azir uddin (28) and his six-month-old son Hashib Uddin lost their lives when a mud wall of their house collapsed due to heavy rain and storm. Seven other members of the family were critically injured.
Elsewhere in Mizoram, a couple and their four-year-old daughter were killed in a landslide on the outskirts of Aizawl. The bodies of the victims — Isaac Chhangte (32), his wife Lalrinchhani (25) and their daughter Abigail Lalchhanhimi — were retrieved from the debris.
In Nagaland Kusong village, a 35-year-old man was swwept away by strong currents of the Nguhaiu river in Noklak district on Monday. His body was retrieved by locals at midnight. The victim has been identified as L Pushing.
614 SDRF personnel deployed across 54 Assam locations
In a daring rescue operation, 13 fishermen were airlifted by the Indian Air Force from the dangerous waters of the Brahmaputra in Assam's Dibrugarh district on Tuesday morning.
The fishermen had been stranded on HatiaAli (a sandbar) since last Friday while fishing. "NDRF, SDRF and IWT boats have tried to rescue these persons but they could not succeed due to the rising water level and extreme current of the river. ln the above circumstances, it has been decided to airlift these stranded persons as their health condition may deteriorate with the passage of time," stated an urgent letter from the chief executive officer of Assam State Disaster Management Authority (ASDMA) to Major General GS Choudhry, joint secretary (Air) at Air Force Headquarter, New Delhi.
The cost of airlifting the fishermen will be borne by the state government. ASDMA confirmed that all the rescued individuals are safe.
NDRF teams have been deployed in Cachar, Barpeta, Bongaigaon, Dibrugarh, Jorhat, Golaghat,Majuli, and Lakhimpur districts. In total, 614 SDRF personnel, 159 of which are skilled deep divers, along with 295 boats, have been deployed across 54 locations in Assam.
In Golaghat district, a combined team of NDRF and the Army has been dispatched to the affected sites. Breaches in embankments have caused flooding in multiple villages of Golaghat, Jorhat, Nagaon and Majuli districts.
The Met dept has predicted that the situation may improve from Wednesday with a decline in rainfall intensity. "No red alert in any northeastern state has been issued for the next few days," said a Met official. However, IMD has predicted heavy to very heavy rain at isolated places over all seven northeastern states.