GUWAHATI
Floods and landslides have killed three persons and affected more than 56,000 people across eight districts of Assam since May 14. Three others were reported missing.
Flash floods and landslips damaged the hill railway section in Dima Hasao district at 26 locations, leaving more than 2,000 passengers stranded for more than 24 hours before some of them could be airlifted to safety.
Officials of the Assam State Disaster Management Authority (ASDMA) said three persons, including a woman, were killed in a landslide in Dima Hasao district on Saturday. Three others, including a child, have gone missing in the adjoining Cachar district after heavy rainfall and floods.
Locals of Hokai Pungchi, a village 6 km from Dima Hasao district headquarters Haflong, had sought the help of defence personnel after a landslide flattened many houses. The bodies of three persons were later retrieved from the debris.
Roads washed away
Flash floods washed away portions of roads, including a national highway in Dima Hasao district, besides an arterial railway track — the lifeline for southern Assam, Manipur, Mizoram and Tripura.
Several stretches of the railway track were covered by mud and stones that hurtled down the hills. Some railway bridges were also damaged.
“All the trains had been cancelled except for two trains. The Guwahati-Silchar Express was stranded at New Haflong and the Silchar-Guwahati Express at Ditokcherra since Saturday morning,” Northeast Frontier Railway’s spokesperson Sabyasachi De told The Hindu.
The evacuation of the passengers started around 1.30 p.m. on Sunday. While about 1,000 passengers were sent back to Silchar by a special train, 200 others had to be airlifted as they could not cross a partially damaged railway bridge beyond which their train was stuck.
“The 200 elderly people, women and children were evacuated by choppers provided by the Indian Air Force. At New Haflong, we managed to evacuate 212 passengers by bus to the Maibang railway station, from where they will be taken to Guwahati,” he said.
The buses too were stranded on the road due to landslides and could move after the debris was cleared. This delayed the evacuation of 300 other passengers by road, officials said.
Data provided by the ASDMA said 56,669 people had been affected across 222 villages and 4,330 of them had taken refuge in 29 relief camps. The floodwaters had inundated 10,321.44 hectares of cropland across six districts.
