FLOODS and landslides caused by relentless rain in northeast India have killed at least 33 people and displaced more than a million over the past week, officials said on Monday (September 24).
“Eighteen of 27 districts of Assam have been hit by floods with 1.4 million displaced and 11 people drowned in separated incidents in the past week,” the Disaster Management agency said in a statement.
Rescue officials said in the latest floods, at least 2,200 villages had been swamped by overflowing waters from the rain-swollen Brahmaputra River.
Himanta Biswa Sarmah, the health minister of Assam, told reporters that a “maximum health alert” to avert outbreaks of diarrhea or diseases such as typhoid had been declared in the devastated zone.
The annual monsoon provides vital irrigation for India’s farmers but also claims many casualties from flooding and landslides.
Officials said flooding victims had been evacuated to temporary shelters on higher ground.
Almost the entire 420 square kilometres (162 square miles) of Kaziranga National Park was also flooded, a report said.
