Brahmaputra swelling, alert sounded

Incessant rains in the catchment areas in Upper Assam and Arunachal Pradesh have sent several tributaries of the Brahmaputra overflowing, while the Red River itself was...

Incessant rains in the catchment areas in Upper Assam and Arunachal Pradesh have sent several tributaries of the Brahmaputra overflowing, while the Red River itself was flowing over the red mark at several places in Assam in the past 24 hours.

Met officials here have forecast more rains across the Northeast in the next 48 hours, while the Assam Government has alerted the authorities in flood-prone districts of Dhemaji, Lakhimpur, Morigaon and Barpeta to remain prepared for any emergency.

The Brahmaputra was flowing above the danger mark at Dibrugarh, Nimatighat Jorhat, Tezpur, Barpeta and Dhubri, with water resource department officials saying the river was showing a rising trend all along its course from Dibrugarh to Dhubri.

Over 70 villages in Lakhimpur, Sonitpur and Dhemaji districts in Upper Assam have been already inundated by overflowing tributaries of the Brahmaputra in the past three days.

A major breach at Matmora in Dhemaji district today has threatened to wipe out two villages in the area, which incidentally is part of the Assembly constituency of state Flood Control and Water Resource Minister Bharat Chandra Narah.

At Gohpur in Sonitpur district on the other hand, 20 villages were inundated last night following a major breach of the embankment on river Kekurijan, a tributary of the Brahmaputra. The Jia-Bhoroli too overflowed near Tezpur in Sonitpur with floodwaters entering several villages in the area, reports said.

Rains inundate Guwahati: Life in Guwahati was also severely affected today with an hour-long heavy downpour causing artificial floods due to waterlogging in several localities. Hundreds of office-goers were also stranded due to a total breakdown of traffic at several junctions.

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Hundreds of schoolchildren were stranded inside buses as traffic came to a standstill at Chandmari, Silpukhuri, Bamunimaidan and other areas mostly on the GN Bardoloi Road and Zoo Road. Drains overflowed in several localities and rain-water also entered houses in several areas.