Flood, COVID-19 double whammy in Assam: One death, 2.71 lakh affected in flood; 92 new COVID-19 cases in 24-hours

Flood in Assam claimed one life on Wednesday and affected over 2.71 lakh people in 11 districts as the state government stepped up efforts to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in the relief camps.

A man drowned in Rangjuli in western Assam's Goalpara district while 16,720 others remained in relief camps in Goalpara, Dhemaji, Lakhimpur, Nalbari and Tinsukia districts. Goalpara was the worst affected with 16, 037 people left homeless in the district alone.

The flood bulletin issued by Assam State Disaster Management Authority (ASDMA) on Wednesday evening said over 77 thousand more people were affected in the past 24-hours.

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The situation is unlikely to improve soon as three rivers--the Brahmaputra and two of its major tributaries, Jia Bharali and Puthimari were flowing above danger levels at Jorhat, Sonitpur and Kamrup districts respectively. 

A total of 321 villages have been inundated in Dhemaji, Lakhimpur, Nagaon, Hojai, Darrang, Barpeta, Nalbari, Goalpara, West Karbi Anglong, Dibrugarh and Tinsukia districts so far, it said. 

Reviewing the flood situation, Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal directed the ASDMA and the related departments for ensuring all COVID-19 protocols like social distancing, hand washing, wearing of masks in the flood relief camps so that community spread of COVID-19 cases could be contained during the flood season. 

Assam detected 92 new COVID-19 positive cases on Wednesday taking the tally to 774 so far. A total of 87 persons have been discharged so far while four died earlier.

The ASDMA had issued safety guidelines to prevent the spread of Coronavirus in the flood relief camps.

Crop land of 2,678 hectares has been damaged in the flood while roads, bridges, culverts and embankments have been breached or eroded in many districts. Land erosion has become serious in most of the affected districts.