Assam Floods: Death Toll Climbs to 80, More Than 2 Lakh Hit

Officials said on Friday that eight districts and 2.12 lakh people were still affected by the floods in Assam, bringing the total number of fatalities to 80. In addition to requesting a support package from the Centre for the relief and rehabilitation of those devastated by an extraordinary downpour, the state administration has declared a six-month ban on repaying any kind of loan taken out by flood victims.

According to the officials, the Sivasagar district was the source of the two most recent deaths. With this, the death toll from this year's floods has reached 80. The officials said that both the latest deaths were reported from Sivasagar district. With these, the toll in this year's deluge has mounted to 80.

A total of 21 revenue circles and 437 villages in eight districts of Golaghat, Sivasagar, Biswanath, Charaideo, Kamrup (Metropolitan), Jorhat, Dhemaji and Nagaon continued to be affected by the floods. The number of impacted people was at 2,12,400, with Charaideo being the worst-hit with nearly 80,000 people affected, followed by Sivasagar (71,000) and Jorhat (40,000).

The flood situation improved since Wednesday. The administration was operating 112 relief camps and relief distribution centres in four districts, taking care of 75,583 affected people at present. On the other hand, different agencies- the Army, NDRF, SDRF, Fire & Emergency Service, police, and civil agencies are engaged in the rescue operation. A crop area of 17,198.09 hectares has been submerged across Assam, while embankments, roads, bridges, and other infrastructure have also been damaged by floodwaters.

Meanwhile, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said a special meeting of the State Level Bankers' Committee (SLBC), attended by representatives from the RBI, NABARD, SBI and all other commercial banks, decided on a relief scheme for the customers who availed loans in Sivasagar, Charaideo, Jorhat and Golaghat districts.