Heavy rains leave 600 houses damaged, 2,000 homeless in Tripura

Heavy rains since Wednesday have damaged over 600 houses, rendering over 2,000 people homeless in three districts of Tripura.

A report from the State Emergency Operation Centre issued Thursday said that a total of 2137 people from 556 families are currently sheltered at 20 relief camps in Khowai and Sepahijala districts in the state.

While 78 houses were severely damaged, 521 houses were partly damaged and nine fully damaged in Khowai, Sepahijala and Gomati districts.

The Meteorological Department predicted heavy rains in isolated places across the state in the next 24 hours.

NH-8 collapses after heavy rains, near Agartala, Thursday, July 1, 2021. (PTI Photo)

In 2019, in similar monsoon-related incidents, 17,952 persons had been rendered homeless and were sheltered in 61 relief camps opened in four out of eight districts of the state. One person died in each of Dhalai and South Tripura districts while six others were reported to have been injured.

Over 40,000 persons were forced to take shelter in relief camps in 2018 as flood conditions were triggered by water level beyond safety limits in River Howrah, Khowai, Gomati and Katakhal canal.

The state government had later announced that it will construct a series of small dams in Baramura Range to control unchecked rainwater flow into rivers in the plains, which, in turn, inundated large tracts of land in 2018. Parts of this big plan which have already been implemented like a few check dams on the hills have relatively reduced the flood conditions this year.