New Delhi - One person was drowned and up to 400,000
villagers displaced in floods triggered by heavy monsoon rains in
India's north-eastern state of Assam, a news report said Sunday.
Police said a tribal villager was drowned when his boat capsized
late Saturday near the river island of Majuli in Jorhat district,
some 320 kilometres east of Assam's main city of Guwahati, the IANS
news agency reported.
'The elderly villager was on a boat trying to get essentials for
his family when it capsized. His body was recovered later,' a police
official told the IANS on telephone.
This was the first flood-related death in Assam since the monsoon
rains began at the end of June.
The current wave of flooding in the past week has left about
400,000 people displaced in about 500 villages in the four districts
of Lakhimpur, Dhemaji, Jorhat and Nagaon.
Assam revenue and rehabilitation minister Bhumidar Barman said the
flood situation was 'grim' and rescue teams were helping villagers
shift from low-lying and inundated areas.
Most of the displaced people were lodged in makeshift shelters on
raised embankments. The state agencies were providing food and
medical supplies to the flood-hit villagers.
Almost every year, monsoon-driven floods cause numerous deaths as
overflowing rivers submerge villages and farmland. The monsoon season
in India lasts from June to October.
According to the federal home ministry, more than 2,750 people
died during the monsoon season across India last year. Nearly 28
million people, most of them living in rural areas, were affected
across 16 states.
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