TURA, June 19: The Garo Hills region continues to be battered by heavy rains, which continue to show no signs of abating even as the plain belt prepares itself for what is expected to be an upcoming flood as water levels have continued to rise through the past ten days. While the situation is not yet critical, things could change quickly if the rains continue.
As per latest reports, Siju in South Garo Hills remains cut off for heavy and light vehicles from the one side (towards Nongalbibra) while a slippery section towards Baghmara has made travel tricky.
Residents reported that rain has continued to pelt down, though there was some relief on Tuesday afternoon.
Water levels in most rivers in the Garo Hills region remained close or over the danger mark though no reports of injuries or deaths have been reported from any of the districts.
Early Wednesday morning, residents of Tura, who were using the NH 51 route to travel, reported a traffic jam near ISBT, about 8 kms from the town. It was later cleared.
Further in North Garo Hills, subway sections of the road between Resubelpara and Mendipathar remained cut-off due to water flooding the area. A vehicle had a major scare on Tuesday, after it toppled over with people on board.
However, the vehicle was later recovered and police officials confirmed that no one was hurt as alert residents quickly moved in to help those affected.
“While there have been rains, the impact for now has been felt only in Resubelpara C&RD Block where 24 houses have been damaged (18 of which were partially damaged). The situation is currently being monitored but there have not been any reports of any other damages from other Blocks,” informed NGH DC, Abhinav Singh.
In East Garo Hills, there were no reports of any damage except for a disruption caused by boulders in a stretch of road connecting Mangsang to Rongjeng. It is expected to be cleared on Thursday.
West Garo Hills, which has a huge area in the plains, has been the worst affected amongst the five districts with many villages already under floodwaters in Selsella.
At least 39 families were evacuated and moved into relief camps on Tuesday evening after their houses were inundated. With more rains forecast, the situation remains grim.
In nearby Phulbari, Tikrikilla and Rajabala areas, water levels have continued to rise though it may still take more rains for the area to be declared flood-affected. The main fear is that even if there were no rains in the coming days, the back-draft of the Brahmaputra River (Jinjiram) could make things difficult for people of the plain belt.
“The situation is bad and we are monitoring it. There is a fear that floods may occur as it has continued to rain everywhere. Hopefully the rains will subside and we can go back to normal. Our barometer is that if Majuli floods, we will be affected in a week. This time, it could be sooner,” said local MLA and Power Minister AT Mondal.
Meanwhile, water level on the Brahmaputra River has seen a rising trend since the past few days, something that has worried most in the plain belt.
