By IANS,
Guwahati : A day after flash floods swept Assam’s eastern district of Dhemaji, the water level of the mighty Brahmaputra showed a receding trend Thursday though road links remained snapped, officials said.
“The flood situation is improving with the water level of the Brahmaputra receding with no overnight rains although road communication still remains snapped,” Diwakar Mishra, district magistrate of Dhemaji, told IANS by telephone.
Heavy pre-monsoon rains triggered flash floods in Dhemaji district, about 500 km east of Assam’s main city of Guwahati, with breaches in embankments and floodwaters submerging a national highway.
“We are trying to clear the highway and mend the breached embankment,” Mishra said.
Floodwaters of the mighty Brahmaputra river have entered parts of the district although human settlements have not yet been hit. This is the first wave of floods in Assam this year.
“Human population has not been affected so far although we are still on an alert mode to meet any eventuality,” Mishra said.
The 2,906 km long Brahmaputra is one of Asia’s largest rivers that traverses its first stretch of 1,625 km in China’s Tibet region, the next 918 km in India and the remaining 363 km through neighbouring Bangladesh before meeting up with the Padma and flowing into the Bay of Bengal.
Every year, floods in the river leave a trail of destruction, washing away villages, submerging paddy fields, drowning livestock, besides causing loss of human life and property in Assam.
In 2004, more than 200 people were killed in floods in Assam.