Guwahati, June 21: Amid the deteriorating flood situation in southern Assam’s Cachar district, vehicular traffic movement has been suspended along the National Highway-53 (new NH-37) on a stretch between Rongpur Barak bridge point and Rongpur police outpost in the Silchar-Jiribam section.
More than 50cm in depth on both sides of the four-lane NH-53(New NH-37) first to third km stretch from Rongpur Barak bridge point to Rongpur police outpost (Silchar-Jiribam section) has been submerged by flood water, prompting the PWD NH Division, Silchar to issue a notification regarding immediate suspension of vehicular movement in the area.
Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma informed that a team of National Disaster Response Force (NDRF headquarters) from Bhubaneswar had landed at Kumbhirgram airport in Silchar on on a special flight on Tuesday afternoon to help the administration intensify rescue and relief operations in the flood-affected town.
Four units comprising about 105 NDRF personnel have been arriving in Silchar on special flights since Tuesday afternoon to evacuate stranded people in the flood-submerged town.
Silchar town in Cachar district has been witnessing one of the most devastating floods in years this season with almost all the areas of the city remaining submerged over the past couple of days.
A special flight service between Guwahati and Silchar was also resumed from Saturday to provide relief to stranded passengers in view of the disruption of connectivity between Barak Valley and other regions of the state.
With heavy flooding disconnecting Barak Valley from the rest of the state via road, the Indian Air Force (IAF) was also scheduled to carry out a massive airlift exercise on Tuesday.
Chief minister Sarma had on Monday said that the IAF would airlift 1.08 lakh litres of petrol and diesel to Silchar, which would be the first time in the history of Assam that the IAF would carry out such a massive exercise.
Besides, the Northeast Frontier Railways (NFR) has also informed the state government to run special relief trains as per government requirement, he said.
It may be mentioned that the flood situation in the state in general has remained critical in the past 24 hours with over 47 lakh people affected in as many as 32 districts. Over 2.31 lakh affected people are currently being sheltered in relief camps.
The death toll in the first wave (from April 6 till June 20) of floods in the state till Tuesday morning stood at 81.
IANS