Assam: IAF rescues flood-hit, drops food in inaccessible areas

GUWAHATI/SILCHAR: IAF choppers continued to airlift marooned people to safety and airdrop food and essentials to inaccessible areas as flood and landslide-hit Assam. The toll rose to 10 as one more person died, while the number of affected people crossed the eight-lakh mark on Friday.
The Assam State Disaster Management Authority (ASDMA) said it was contemplating to augment disaster response forces from neighbouring states to further strengthen response if the situation becomes more critical.A total of 86,772 people have taken shelter in 343 relief camps.
Although the water level of the Barak river has been witnessing a receding trend in Silchar on Friday, the flood situation continues to remain grim in the worst-hit Cachar district, forcing the district administration to extend the closure of all educational institutions for another 24 hours.
However, those students who are appearing for the Medical PG examination, are exempted from this direction and their examination shall be held as per schedule, the DC's order stated.
Meanwhile, people of the district and Silchar town, in particular, are a harassed lot as the APDCL has temporarily suspended power supply to 1350 transformers in the district to avoid accidents due to rising water levels. Drinking water supply has also been temporarily cut off in wards 1 to 5 of the Silchar municipality area, which are the worst affected in Silchar urban area in the current wave of floods.

The ASDMA said a total of 269 stranded people have been rescued from Dima Hasao district in the last two days with the help IAF and they have been airdropped in Silchar. Also, 24 MT food items have been transported to Dima Hasao district with the help of IAF in the last two days.
A team of specialists from ISRO is already doing rapid damage assessment in the worst-hit Dima Hasao using drones and satellite data to inform the post disaster need assessment later. "Steps for recuperating the broken communication systems are being taken to establish contact with remote areas in Dima Hasao," the ASDMA said.