New Delhi: Over 30 people in India’s north-eastern states were killed in the last 24 hours because of torrential rains caused due to depression in north Bangladesh and Meghalaya. While Assam, Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram and Nagaland bore the worst damage, reports of rain-related displacement and deaths were also reported from Sikkim, Tripura and Manipur.

Thousands have been displaced amid floods and landslides, as rainfall broke all records in the region, highlighting an urgent need for better disaster management preparedness and flood management plans.

PTI reported that 17 districts of Assam, particularly Lakhimpur, were badly hit by floods and landslides and over 78,000 were left displaced. Nearly 41, 600 people were affected in Lakhimpur alone.

Relief camps had been constructed in anticipation of heavy rains but are proving to be hugely insufficient. A mudslide in Assam’s capital Guwahati buried several homes and killed five people, three of them from a single family. Two deaths were also reported from Golaghat, while one died in Lakhimpur. 

Three Myanmarese refugees who had taken shelter  in India after the military coup in their country were also killed in a landslide that submerged their houses in Mizoram on Saturday. Eight deaths have been reported from Mizoram, Tripura, and Meghalaya, India Today said.

In Manipur, three days of non-stop rains have brought the capital of Imphal to a standstill, even as authorities issued flood warnings and tried to evacuate people from floodplains of the river Imphal. 

In Arunachal Pradesh, a car was swept away by floodwaters, killing seven people. In another such accident, two people drowned as rainwaters surged in many parts. Flash floods and landslides were also reported in hilly districts of the state – Senapati, Ukhrul, Tamenglong, Noney, and Pherzawl.

Over 1,500 tourists were stranded in north Sikkim after the arterial road connecting the region to Gangtok collapsed in many places because of landslides. While one person was reported to have been killed, many have been injured, reports say. In one incident, eight people went missing after a vehicle in which they were travelling plunged into the overflowing Teesta river in Sikkim’s Mangan district. 

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has said that there may not be any respite in the coming days, and issued red, orange, or yellow alerts in most of these states. 

Relief and rescue operations by NDRF, SDRF, police, and fire services have been on an overdrive but given the incessant rainfall across the region. Flights, buses, trains and other modes of transport were severely hit.

“The Central Water Commission (CWC) has issued an ‘orange bulletin’ for the state in view of the “severe flood situation” as 10 major rivers, including the Brahmaputra and Barak, were flowing above the danger level,” reported The Hindu. 

Waterlogging in most cities has brought life to standstill, with people struggling to access basic facilities. Officials have warned that many regions of the north-east remain landslide-prone and there is an urgent need for mass evacuation of people living in hilly terrains. 

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