2 days ago
Flood situation improves in northeast; three die in Manipur
GUWAHATI:
The flood situation in the northeastern region improved in the last 24 hours but the toll continues.
According to Manipur's Directorate of Relief and Disaster Management, the State was dry on Friday, barring two areas, which experienced light rainfall. The rivers in receding mode, however, proved fatal for three persons, taking the death toll in rain-induced disasters across the region to 55.
Assam recorded the most fatalities with 21 victims of floods and landslides, followed by 12 in Arunachal Pradesh, six in Meghalaya and Mizoram, four in Manipur, three in Sikkim, two in Tripura, and one in Nagaland.
Nine persons, including a BJP Mahila Morcha leader from Odisha, are feared dead in Sikkim after the vehicle they were travelling in fell about 1,000 feet into the Teesta River on May 29. A Guwahati-based doctor, believed to have been caught in a landslide, has been missing in Arunachal Pradesh since May 31.
While 1.66 lakh people continue to be affected by floods in Manipur, mostly in the Imphal Valley, the number of flood-hit people in Assam reduced by about 1.2 lakh to 4.44 lakh across 18 districts.
A flood bulletin provided by the Assam State Disaster Management Authority said the Brahmaputra and four other rivers have been at certain stretches. 'We are currently operating 328 relief camps and relief distribution centres for 1.59 lakh people, who are yet to return home,' a spokesperson of the authority said.
