TURA: Incessant rain in Garo Hills since Friday night has left large parts of the plain belt flooded.
The worst-affected areas are in Chief Minister Mukul Sangma’s district of South West Garo Hills.
A storm on Friday afternoon followed by another round of downpour late at night left on its trail fallen trees and inundation of vast areas of the low-lying plains in Garo Hills.
Houses, fish ponds and agricultural lands are submerged and in some areas, the storm damaged roads.
Low-lying areas under Zikzak development block in South West Garo Hills — namely Silkona, Nandichar, Beparipara, Hridaypur, Daspara, Patelipara and New Kalaichar — were the worst-hit by the storm on Friday.
Some residents of Silkona were compelled to seek shelter in a school building due to the surging flood waters, it was reported.
While no loss of life or serious damage to property has been reported from the affected areas, teams of the district disaster management authority have been deployed and gram sevaks have been sent to the spot.
Chief Minister Sangma has, in the meantime, directed district officials to provide relief assistance to the affected families.
This strange weather pattern of having repeated thunderstorms in a season normally reserved for soaring temperatures and a dry spell are being attributed to climate change caused by global warming.
