Northeast Floods: 80 Dead, 17 Lakh Stranded; 58 Animals Dead in Kaziranga National Park

Guwahati, July 14: The Northeast floods and landslides have killed as many as 80 people leaving over 17 lakh people stranded in Assam. Terming the damage due to the Northeast floods as ‘unprecedented’, the Centre on Thursday said that it has roped in Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) to access the damage the floods and landslides have caused in last few days. The floods have also put wildlife and National Parks in danger as 58 animals have reportedly died in the Kaziranga National Park.

“Floods in Assam have killed 58 animals inside the park, including three one-horned rhino calves. The park is also home to elephants, Indian hog deer, wild buffalo. Three rhino calves have drowned and up to 45 deer perished in the flood,” said Satyendra Singh, the park’s director. He also said that the water level in Brahmaputra river is expected to come down by the end of this week, if there’s no heavy rain.

“The damage caused by the rainfall is unprecedented and a total of 58 districts have been affected due to floods/landslides in Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, and Manipur. Around 80 lives have been lost,” Jitendra Singh, Union minister of state for development of north eastern region (DoNER), said.

Assam has been hit the worst in the Northeast floods with nearly 50 deaths – due to drowning and electrocution – have been reported so far in 26 districts. Officials of the Assam State Disaster Management Authority (ASDMA) said that five people were killed in separate incidents in the last 24 hours. As on Wednesday, a total of 17,18,135 people were affected, ASDMA said.