Landslides triggered by heavy rain claimed 29 lives, including those of ITBP and BRO personnel in Sikkim, even as flood situation in Assam and Arunachal Pradesh deteriorated with vast areas reeling under its impact.

Official sources on Sunday said in Gangtok at least 21 bodies, including those of the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) and the Border Roads Organisation (BRO) personnel, were found while eight persons were missing following flash floods and landslides in remote areas of North Sikkim. Army and IAF personnel have launched rescue operations in full swing in the badly affected areas.

The dead include four from the ITBP, two of their family members, and 12 junior officers from the BRO. Other victims were casual labourers, they said. Most of the casualties were reported from Rangma range.

In Assam, the flood situation deteriorated with 16 districts reeling under its impact, as large parts of Dibru-Saikhowa and Kaziranga National Parks and Pobitora Wildlife Sanctuary were submerged. Five deaths have been reported, official sources said in Guwahati.

Flood water also entered Guwahati on Saturday evening. Official sources said about eight lakh people in 1,381 villages under 16 districts of the state have been affected by the fourth wave of flood.

In Arunachal Pradesh, at least three persons have been killed due to landslides, while surface communication to at least three districts has been cut off due to unprecedented floods and landslides. The authorities with the aid of the Army and the Air Force are conducting rescue operations.

In Guwahati, Brahmaputra water entered the Pandu locality affecting over 10,000 people. The authorities have set up at least one relief camp to provide shelter to the worst-affected. The Upper Assam industrial town of Dibrugarh too has come under threat of the rising water-level, with large areas of the town already being submerged. As many as 87 relief camps were set up till Sunday. Units of the Army, NDRF and SDRF have also been pressed into service.

Flood water has inundated more than 50 per cent of the Majuli river island area in Jorhat district. The state transport department suspended ferry services on the Brahmaputra in most districts in view of the rapid increase of water-level in the past few days.

In Arunachal Pradesh, vital road communication in at least three districts  Changlang, Lohit and Lower Dibang Valley  have been cut off due to floods and erosion in the past four days.

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