3-year old swept away by water current in SGH
TURA/ SHILLONG: People residing in the plains of West Garo Hills are reeling under flood waters since Saturday after two major rivers flowing through the region, the Brahmaputra and Jinjiram, breached their banks inundating hundreds of acres of land in the low lying areas.
A belated report said that a three-year old child died after she was swept away by the strong current of water on July 11 at Rewak Dabrum village under Rongara Community and Rural Development Block in South Garo Hills. Her body was recovered later.
The state government, on Sunday night, declared the region as flood affected after 1,24,181 people from 154 villages were hit by the flood caused by rising waters from the two rivers following incessant rain in Assam and Arunachal Pradesh that feed the mighty Brahmaputra.
and Brahmaputra rivers on Monday. (ST)
Villages in the Phulbari constituency, beginning from Paham all the way to Rajabala constituency, have witnessed the flood fury of the Brahmaputra and Jinjiram rivers.
Phulbari, Balachanda, Bhaitbari, Rajabala, Hallidayganj and parts of Selsella, including Haldibari have been affected by the flood waters.
Under Selsella development block, which includes Rajabala constituency, as many as 104 villages having a population of 66,431 people have been affected by the flooding.
Similarly, in Demdema Block which cover Phulbari region, a population of 57,700 people from 50 villages have had their normal life thrown out of gear by the flooding.
An alert is in place in both Rajabala and Phulbari urging people residing in the low lying areas to move to higher ground due to the continuous rise in the water level, but many have been reluctant to leave behind their homes for fear of theft.
A road over a major embankment in Phulbari has been damaged by the flood waters on Monday morning. A section of the road over the Nagaband Solartek embankment, constructed to check the Jinjiram river from entering Phulbari town, has been washed away after the river breached the embankment wall. There is apprehension that the continuing rise in water levels of the Jinjiram could flood vast areas of Phulbari town.
Chief Minister Conrad Sangma was, on Sunday, supposed to visit the flood affected region and survey the damage but had to cancel the trip due to inclement weather.
Gratuitous relief for one week has been announced for the flood affected people in the region and dozens of relief camps have been establishment in government schools and other administrative buildings in the plains.
The MLAs of the three affected constituencies of Selsella, Rajabala and Phulbari, Ferlin CA Sangma, Azad Zaman and SG Esmatur Mominin have been camping in their respective areas and overseeing the relief operations.
“The water is not receding so far and instead more areas are getting flooded. Even a PMGSY road from Bhaitbari to Gajbari village has been submerged under flood water in my constituency,” informed the Rajabala MLA whose house was also flooded due to rain.
The worry for the administration is possible outbreak of water borne diseases such as cholera since vast areas of human habitation have been flooded. Efforts are being made to set up toilets and provide safe drinking water to the affected people.
More rain predicted in state
Rain continues to batter Meghalaya for the second week though the intensity of rainfall has decreased in the last couple of days.
As of now, Shillong has received 424.7 mm of rainfall from July 8 till July 14 while in the same period, Umiam has witnessed 282 mm of rainfall.
The land of clouds and rain, Sohra has received much higher rainfall than Shillong as it received 1485.1 mm of rainfall during the same period.
The district wise weather forecast of Indian Metrological department says that all the eleven districts of the state are most likely to receive rainfall and thunder shower till the next 3-4 days.
The incessant rainfall in the state for almost a week led to uncountable number of landslides, uprooting of trees, water logging and floods in different parts of the state.
In the recent rainfall, as many as four people have also lost their lives after they were washed away in rivers.
On Monday too, a tree fell down in Gora Lane in the city but there was no casualty.