Eighteen people have died in Assam as flood situation in the state has worsened. More than half the state, 2000 villages in 16 out of 27 districts, are reeling under flood water and more than 17 lakh people have been displaced. The swollen Brahmaputra river continues to rise, flooding more areas of the state.The deluge has brought with it misery and colossal losses with homes washed away. Thousands of hectares of standing crop has been destroyed and roads and bridges damaged. And what is stirring up a controversy now is that while lakhs of people in his state are struggling to survive, Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi is away in Japan on a study tour. He has reportedly decided now to cut short his visit and is expected to fly back to Delhi today.The Chief Minister's office has, meanwhile, directed administration to use helicopters and mechanised boats to step up rescue and relief operations in flood-hit areas.Nearly two lakh people have taken refuge so far in a total of 166 relief camps."The situation has become steady now and we hope the situation will start improving in a day or two. The predictions of Central Water Commission (CWC) as well as the meteorological department indicated an improvement in weather soon," State Disaster Management Authority (SDMA) CEO Atul Chaturvedi said.The worst affected is Majuli island - Asia's largest freshwater river island - with about 70 per cent of its land area submerged. All the educational institutions in Majuli were closed down due to the floods. ( See pics Sadia sub-division in Tinsukia town also bore the fury of the flood forcing the administration to use Indian Air Force and the Army helicopters to air drop food materials for the affected people. District administration officials said over 80 per cent of the landmass in Sadia remained under water till Tuesday.The National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), the State Disaster Response Force, the Army and the Air Force are engaged in rescue and relief operations.Parts of National Highway 52, which connects Dhemaji in Assam to Arunachal Pradesh, has come under flood waters and there are fears of scarcity of food and other materials in the district.Over 80 per cent of the Kaziranga National Park remained under flood water and over 10 animals died in the park due to floods. Poachers also took advantage of the floods and killed a one-horned rhino and managed to decamp with the horn.

Although vast areas of Pobitora Wildlife Sanctuary in Morigaon district and Dibru Choikhowa National Park in Tinsukia district also were submerged by floods, no animal death has been reported from there till Tuesday.