At least three people have died and over 56,500 residents have been affected in seven districts of Assam because of floods caused by incessant rain, the Assam State Disaster Management Authority said on Sunday.
The disaster management body said that those killed belonged to one family and were buried in a landslide in the Haflong town of Dima Hasao district on Saturday, according to The Indian Express. Three other residents are missing from the Cachar district.
“The rain has triggered multiple landslides across the district,” an unidentified official of the disaster management body said, according to The Indian Express. “Major roads are damaged and railway tracks have been washed away. An RCC building collapsed, burying a family of three alive on Saturday.”
The state of Assam, along with Meghalaya and Arunachal Pradesh, has been receiving heavy rainfall since Saturday.
An orange alert was issued by the Regional Meteorological Centre in Guwahati for the three states until May 17. An orange alert warns authorities to be prepared to tackle intense rainfall.
Rail and road connectivity hit
The heavy rainfall and landslides have eroded sections of roads and railway tracks across Assam, according to the Assam State Disaster Management Authority.
“Railway line at Jatinga-Harangajao and Mahur-Phaiding was blocked due to landslides,” the body said in a release. “Before reaching Maibang tunnel at Geremlambra village, the road is likely to be blocked due to landslides.”
Seventeen trains were cancelled or partially cancelled due to damage to tracks and bridges at 26 locations, according to Hindustan Times.
As many as 1,245 passengers of the Silchar-Guwahati train were evacuated after the train was stranded due to a broken railway bridge near Ditokcherra town.
“At Ditokcherra, about 1,000 people were guided across a broken railway bridge to reach a special evacuation train on foot,” Sabyasachi De, chief public relations officer of the Northeast Frontier Railway said, according to The Indian Express. “Older passengers who were not able to cross the bridge by themselves were airlifted.”
Similarly, around 1,400 passengers of the Guwahati-Silchar passenger train were stranded at New Halflong town in the Dima Hasao district, Hindustan Times reported.
“We employed 4 buses to take most of these passengers to Maibong from where they are being taken to Guwahati by train,” De said.
Four killed in Arunachal Pradesh
Meanwhile, two persons died in Arunachal Pradesh’s Itanagar after their house was hit by a landslide due to incessant rainfall, PTI reported.
In a separate incident, two public work department labourers died after being swept away in a landslide at Ganga-Jully Basti Road while trying to extricate a motorcycle stuck in the mud, Superintendent of Police Jimmy Chiram told PTI. They also died, taking the death count to four persons.
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