Guwahati: Parts of the Morigaon district are now threatened by river erosion, forcing many residents to seek shelter in safer locations while Assamese people continue to struggle under water.
Many residents of the nearby villages of Sildubi, Bonmari, Patekiburi, Sidhaguri, Gagaldubi, Borgaon, Pavokati, Jaljali, and Hatibangi are currently seeking refuge on highways and high ground after their homes were submerged by floodwaters.
The current flood wave has affected 1.23 lakh people in the district, according to the Assam State Disaster Management Authority (ASDMA). Almost 8,000 hectares of land are lost each year on average owing to soil erosion caused by rivers in several regions of the state, according to government data.
Landslides and floods have claimed the lives of eight additional people in the last 24 hours, three of them were children in Assam. While one person drowned in each of the districts of Barpeta, Biswanath, Dhemaji, and Morigaon, two people each died in the flood waters in Lakhimpur and Nagaon. With this, the number of people killed by landslides and floods in Assam since April of this year has increased to 159.
The Brahmaputra, Beki, Kopili, Barak, and Kushiyara are among the major rivers in Assam that are flowing above the danger threshold.