Monsoon fury continues

A car crushed under debris in Aizawl on Tuesday. (PTI)

Khelen Thokchom, Satananda Bhattacharjee and Avishek Sengupta, TT, Imphal/Hailakandi/Guwahati, June 14: Manipur, Mizoram and parts of Assam continued to face the brunt of floods, as monsoon rain continued to lash several parts of the Northeast.

Flash floods have submerged many areas in Manipur, while water from Mizoram's hills threatens to submerge parts of Hailakandi district in south Assam's Barak Valley. The Assam State Disaster Management Authority (ASDMA) has issued flood alerts in Lakhimpur, Sonitpur, Darrang, Dhemaji and Karimganj.

This is the second time that Manipur is experiencing flash floods after the one triggered by pre-monsoon rain. The Nambul river, which flows through the heart of Imphal, overflowed last night, inundating Sagolband in Imphal West.

The Imphal river, also flowing above danger level, breached its embankment at Kairang in Imphal East early this morning. At least 30 houses were flooded. The water receded today after the rains stopped but was still above danger level, official sources said.

Manipur chief minister Biren Singh toured the flood-hit areas in Imphal East and reassured the people of government help. The irrigation and flood control department is working to strengthen embankments by putting sandbags at various areas, the sources said.

Southern and eastern Mizoram remained cut-off due to landslides in different places triggered by incessant rain since Monday night. The power supply in these areas has also been disrupted.

The water subsided in most of the areas on the outskirts of Aizawl.

Yesterday, 10 persons died when a three-storey building collapsed in a landslide at Phairuang village in Mizoram's Lunglei district. Local residents claimed that the number of deaths is more as most of the bodies are still under the debris. "Rescue work has been disrupted due to the rain," a local resident said.

Various organisations in Mizoram demanded adequate compensation for the families of the deceased and people affected by flash floods and landslides. An organisation, ketto.org, has started an online crowd-funding programme named Save Mizoram to raise Rs 5 lakh for those affected by the floods and landslides.

More than 400 houses have been damaged in landslides since last Monday, a source in the department of disaster management and rehabilitation said.

Two major rivers of Mizoram - the Tlawng that flows by Aizawl, and the Khawthlangtuipui, that flows along the India-Bangladesh border through southern Mizoram - are still above the danger level.

Water from the hills in Mizoram flowed into the Katakhal and Dhaleswari rivers and inundated Rajyeswarpur, Samarikona, Lalamukh, Kalacherra, Nimaichandpur, Matijuri and Nalubak villages in Assam.

An embankment was today breached in Rajyeswarpur part 7 village in Hailakandi district along the Katakhal river. Eastern Hailakandi has been inundated, affecting 1,000 people in 21 villages. "The water level of the Dhaleswari river is increasing rapidly, at 40cm per hour, according to a water resources department report. The water is coming from Mizoram," the circle officer of Lala, Madhumita Nath, who visited Rajyeswarpur, told The Telegraph today. She put the state disaster response force on alert for relief and rescue.

Nowboicha and North Lakhimpur in Lakhimpur district and Mangaldoi in Darrang district are also flooded. "Altogether 15 villages in Lakhimpur and three in Darrang are inundated by flood waters, affecting 10,088 and 150 people in the respective districts," a source in the ASDMA said.