Connect with us

Hi, what are you looking for?

International News

8 more dead as India’s Assam state reels under floods

Indian army personnel rescue flood-affected villagers on a boat in Jalimura village, west of Gauhati, India, Saturday, June 18, 2022. More than a dozen people have died as massive floods ravaged northeastern India and Bangladesh, leaving millions of homes underwater and severing transport links, authorities said Saturday. (AP Photo/Anupam Nath)

GAUHATI, India (AP) — Massive flooding and mudslides in northeastern India’s Assam state have claimed eight more lives, officials said Sunday, taking the death toll to 62 from weeks of heavy rains that caused one of Asia’s largest rivers to overflow.

Assam’s disaster management agency said 32 of the state’s 35 districts were underwater as the swollen Brahmaputra River broke its banks, displacing more than 3 million people. The Indian army was called in for rescue efforts and the air force remained on standby.

The Brahmaputra flows from China’s Tibet through India and into Bangladesh on a nearly 800 kilometer (497 mile) journey through Assam.

On Sunday, four people went missing when a boat carrying nine capsized in eastern Assam’s Dibrugarh district, 500 kilometers (310 miles) east of Gauhati, the state capital. Police said that search operations were ongoing but they were hampered by strong currents.

Forecasters are expecting a respite from rains after incessant downpours.

On Saturday, Assam’s Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma toured flood-hit areas and described the situation as grim.

“We are now focusing on relief and rescue operations,” Sarma said, adding that more than 20,000 people have been evacuated by the army and other rescue agencies.

Annual monsoon rains hit the region in June-September. The rains are crucial for crops planted during the season but often cause extensive damage.

Flooding from swollen rivers has also spilled over to neighboring Bangladesh, where the government said the situation was likely to deteriorate in the worst-hit Sunamganj and Sylhet districts in the northeast as well as in the north.

Lightning strikes in parts of Bangladesh have left at least nine dead since Friday.

Copyright 2021 Associated Press. All rights reserved.

Source: https://apnews.com/article/floods-asia-bangladesh-india-tibet-41d9be69b4541b853efa83a92de94480

Click to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

You May Also Like

Business News

WASHINGTON (AP) — After months of struggling to find agreement on just about anything in a divided Congress, lawmakers are returning to Capitol Hill...

Business News

PT BAUER Pratama Indonesia, the Indonesian subsidiary of BAUER Spezialtiefbau GmbH, was commissioned to manufacture the retaining walls for the basement in Kota Station...

Business News

Climate technology company Partanna has announced a partnership with the Diriyah Company the use of carbon-negative building materials throughout the US$63 billion Diriyah project...

Business News

The Hong Kong government has selected infrastructure consulting firm AECOM to build a new road linking Lantau Island and Tsing Yi Island aimed at...

Copyright © 2023 Newsworthy News | Global | Political | Local | All News | Website By: Top Search SEO