TURA: Flood situation in Mahendraganj town areas under Zikzak Block in South West Garo Hills remained critical for the fourth day as flood waters continue to inundate low-lying areas including roads even as the district administration has set up as many as 42 relief camps to shelter the flood affected people of the area.
While most affected areas remain under water, at a few places the water level has begun to drop in the regions of Rajabala, Phulbari and Mahendraganj.
South West Garo Hills Deputy Commissioner Ram Kumar S informed on Friday afternoon that flood waters are taking a long time to recede as a result of which people are remaining in the camps. Most of the inmates of the camps are heading out of the camps for their homes during the day to salvage whatever belongings they have before returning to the camp for the night.
Close to 15,000 people continue to seek refuge in the relief camps in the district since flood waters gushed in during the early morning hours of Tuesday in the Mahendraganj border belt.
Mahendraganj and Kalaichar areas of South West Garo Hills experienced unprecedented floods since July 15 last due to the backflow of water from Brahmaputra and its tributary, Jinjiram. The water levels started rising critically from July 18 causing extensive damages to houses and household items, while two persons lost their lives in the disaster. The deceased have been identified as a 71-year-old woman Promila Das of Daspara and an infant Aruv Biswas of Fakirpara.
As on July 19, the water levels had not receded but remained stable. As many as 37 villages and 25,563 people have been affected by the floods.
The district authorities are closely monitoring the situation in these areas, while gratuitous relief (GR) including water and food items are being provided to the flood affected since the past five days. An NDRF team from Guwahati and two SDRF teams from Tura are stationed in Mahendraganj area along with the DDMA team from the district for search and evacuation works from the flood affected areas.
Various teams headed by the magistrates have been put in place to monitor distribution of GR, identification of relief camps, health teams to monitor the health of the flood affected and provide medical aid and for providing safe drinking water to relief camps. So far PHE have been distributing drinking water to 46 affected households and 42 relief camps. Livestock have been moved to dry grounds since July 15 and placed in temporary animal shelter home at AR College campus near Mahendraganj where Veterinary teams continue to monitor their health.
While the Deputy Commissioner Ramkumar S and other district officials including BDO Zikzak are continually monitoring the flood affected areas, local MLA Dikkanchi D. Shira also visited the flood affected people of the area on Friday.
Some of the severely affected villages are Daspara, Hridaypur, Beparipara, Nandirchar, Paulpara, Nayapara, Tosildarpara, Ghegapara, Bagicha and Julapara all falling under Zikzak C&RD block.
Garo Hills has not witnessed floods of such magnitude since the September 2014 cloudburst that unleashed widespread destruction across the region and neighbouring Assam.
In that year, flash floods triggered by torrential rains claimed 31 lives and caused massive landslides and washing away of bridges and roads in the Garo Hills region. Even the National Highway 51, connecting Tura in Garo Hills with Paikan in Assam, was cut off after portions of the road caved in due to the rains and landslides blocked several stretches.
North Garo Hills was the hardest hit by the 2014 floods with 17 deaths being reported from Kharkutta block region alone. Seven persons were swept away by flood waters in West Garo Hills and an equal number disappeared in the then newly created South West Garo Hills district.
