Heavy rains trigger floods in NE, killing 11

Wednesday, May 18, 2022

At least 11 people have died in floods and mudslides triggered by heavy rains in India’s remote northeast region, officials said Tuesday, reports a news agency.

Several railway stations were closed because of floods, said Nazreen Ahmed, a senior official in Assam’s Dima Hasao district.


She said nearly 200,000 people in the district were cut off from the rest of the state as roads and bridges were either blocked by landslides or washed away.
The army deployed helicopters to help with rescue efforts.

Officials said four people were killed Monday following heavy rain and mudslides in the region’s frontier state of Arunachal Pradesh.


Two others died when their houses on a small hillock collapsed in the state’s capital, Itanagar, and two road construction workers were killed by mudslides at another location.

Seven other people were reported killed in neighboring Assam. The state’s disaster management agency said nearly 700 villages were underwater.

The Indian Meteorological Department forecast very heavy to extremely heavy rain in the region for the next four days.

Landslides and floods are common in India’s Himalayan north. Scientists say they are becoming more frequent as global warming contributes to the melting of glaciers there.

In 2020, flash floods killed nearly 200 people and washed away houses in Uttarakhand state. In 2013, thousands of people were killed in floods there.

Seven dead in Assam; landslide blocks road, rail

The state disaster management agency said nearly 700 villages were underwater in Assam, where seven flood-related deaths have also been reported so far.

Several railway stations were closed because of floods, said Nazreen Ahmed, a senior official in Assam’s Dima Hasao district. She said around two lakh people in the district were cut off from the rest of the state as roads and bridges were either blocked by landslides or washed away.

The worst affect districts include, Cachar, Dima Hasao, Hojai, Charaideo, Darrang, Dhemaji, Dibrugarh, Bajali, Baksa, Biswanath and Lakhimpur.

Class 11 exams suspended in Assam due to flood

The Higher Secondary first year (class 11) examinations in Assam starting from Wednesday have been suspended partially due to floods and extensive damage caused by heavy rains in the last few days.

The Assam Higher Secondary Education Council (AHSCE), which conducts the exams, in a notification issued on Tuesday informed all the heads of the institutions under it that the Higher Secondary first year examinations to be held till Saturday are suspended until further order.

The exams that were scheduled to be completed on June 1 have been suspended due to prevailing inclement weather and in view of damages being caused by the natural calamities in the state.

However, in the worst-hit Dima Hasao district, all examinations till June 1 are suspended until further order due to disruption of surface communication, AHSCE Controller of Examinations Pankaj Borthakur said in the notification.

Around two lakh people in 20 districts of Assam have been affected by floods, with the hill district of Dima Hasao getting cut off from the rest of the state after landslides triggered by incessant rain snapped rail and road links, an official bulletin had said on Monday.

Surface links to Assam’s Barak Valley and Dima Hasao district and neighbouring states of Tripura, Mizoram and Manipur remained snapped on Tuesday.

« Back to Page

• Indian Tourism Destinations Feels the Burn as Heat Wave Intensifies Across Country: How to Plan Your Trip?

• A Trip To Remember: Shigmotsav Festival, The Jewel In Goa’s Tourism Crown

• IPL Cricket fever booms sports tourism in India

• Plan Your Trip for Holi 2024: Transform the Long Weekend into a Tapestry of Colors and Happiness

• ICRISAT Boosts Tribal Women and Tourism in Odisha on Women’s Day