The state administration of Assam is prepared to handle any eventuality and has instructed all districts to be vigilant as the water levels of numerous rivers are increasing after nonstop rain and a few districts in Assam have been impacted by the first round of flooding. The Assam government is in touch with all agencies including the Indian army, Indian Air Force (IAF), NDRF to tackle the emergency situation. Talking about the flood preparedness made by the state government, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Assam Disaster Management Authority (ASDMA) Gyanendra Dev Tripathi told that, the overall situation is building up, not at its peak and it is the start of flood season, but the state government is fully prepared to deal with any kind of situation.
“We are focused on more preparedness starting from January 2023. We have done extensive deliberations and consultations with all the stakeholders, all the responding agencies, all the warning-giving agencies, all the information-providing agencies. We have done thematic discussions and thereafter we have done district preparedness, score card which has shown tremendous improvement over the preparedness that was last year. We have checked the preparedness this year, the districts are much better prepared in comparison to last year. We are fully geared up for dealing with flood situation,” said Gyanendra Dev Tripathi.
“During pre-monsoon, we didn’t receive much rainfall and there was a huge deficit of rainfall. The monsoon was supposed to come from June 5, but it came on June 10 and some of the districts experienced some degree of floods particularly Lakhimpur district because of huge rainfall in neighboring states as well as in Lakhimpur district and number of people have been affected. Overall situation is building up, not at its peak and it is the start of flood season,” GD Tripathi said further.
He further said that, as part of the preparedness, all the agencies including Indian army, Indian Air Force, NDRF, SDRF, Fire and Emergency Services, Central Water Commission, Indian Meteorological Department, all the warning giving agencies, all are on hold and we have in common alerting protocol system where the alerts from all the agencies are shared, with the geographical location system, so we can target a particular locality and shared the warning with the people of the particular area. “The Assam Chief Minister reviewed the flood preparedness last Sunday and detailed instructions have given to the Deputy Commissioners for enhance the preparedness. We have made formal arrangement of sharing the data from neighbouring country with district agencies, all the Deputy Commissioners as well as Central Water Commission. We are absolutely ready, we are fully prepared and working day and night to enhance preparedness,” GD Tripathi said. The Brahmaputra River is flowing above the danger level mark at Neamatighat in the Jorhat district, Kopili at Kampur in the Nagaon district, and Puthimari at Nh road crossing in the Kamrup district, according to the Assam State Disaster Management Authority (ASDMA). This is due to the nonstop rain that has caused the water levels of many rivers to rise.
In 13 districts, about 38,000 individuals were impacted by the first round of flooding.The deluge has affected 146 villages across 23 revenue circles in the districts of Lakhimpur, Biswanath, Udalguri, Darrang, Dhemaji, Dibrugarh, Hojai, Nagaon, Sonitpur, Tinsukia, and Udalguri, while urban flooding has been observed in Cachar, Kamrup (Metro), and Nalbari.
near the meantime, the Brahmaputra River near Guwahati is also getting deeper.