More rainfall expected over next week

GUWAHATI: As the relentless second wave of floods worsens by the day, with 12 lakh more people affected and four more deaths over 24 hours, the Army has been pressed into rescue operations and remained on standby on Sunday."Our personnel are on alert in flood-affected areas across the state to assist the administration in rescue and relief work. So far, we have rescued 150 people," an Army official said.The National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) have been engaged in rescue operations. NDRF and SDRF personnel rescued 7,833 people in 11 districts, which remain the worst hit, over the past week - 800 were rescued on Sunday.Death toll rose to 11, as bodies of four more people were retrieved on Sunday - two from Jorhat district , one from Barpeta and another from Dhubri.By now, the Assam State Disaster Managament Authority report states, more than 26 lakh people have been affected across 28 districts, leaving just five districts unaffected in the state. The administration has set up 85 relief camps, sheltering more than 16,000 people across 18 districts. More than 3,000 inmates have been sheltered in Baksa district alone. While Barpeta remains the worst hit district, with more than 7 lakh people affected, it does not have a relief camp yet.The Brahmaputra was flowing above the danger mark in Guwahati, Jorhat, Tezpur, Goalpara and Dhubri.The Brahmaputra’s tributaries also breached the danger level in several places — Burhidehing in Dibrugarh, Subansiri in Lakhimpur, Dhansiri in Golaghat, Jia Bharali in Sonitpur, Kopili in Nagaon, Puthimari in Kamrup and Beki in Barpeta. In southern Assam’s Barak Valley, the Barak and Kushiyara rivers were in spate.“The Brahmaputra is likely to rise further with the Met department forecasting more rainfall across Assam,” additional chief secretary (revenue and disaster management) Kumar Sanjay Krishna said. “We have sufficient resources to tackle the situation. Last year, we had received Rs 590 crore from the Centre. We have already released Rs 55.85 crore to the districts,” he added.The chief minister’s office said CM Sarbananda Sonowal has been taking stock of the situation and has been instructing deputy commissioner of floodhit districts about relief and rescue operations.