At least 11 people have died in floods and landslides in India’s north east after a period of heavy rain from 16 May, 2016.
The deaths occurred on 18 May in the state of Assam. According to Assam State Disaster Management Authority (ASDMA), six people died after a landslide in Hailakandi district and five died after a landslide in Karimganj District. A landslide also occurred in Dima Hasao district, although no fatalities were reported.
In Karimganj District, as many as 68,000 people were also affected by floods. The flood water has since receded, according to ASDMA.
Flooding was also reported in Hailakandi and Cachar district, where over 1,000 people have been affected. Some flooding was also reported in Nagaon and Hajai districts on 19 May.
Assam has already experienced flooding this year, in what were described as pre-monsoon floods in late April 2016, where over 40,000 people were affected in the districts of Lakhimpur, Jorhat and Sivsagar.
Usually it is June that marks the start of the flood season in Assam, when the Brahmaputra River and its tributaries overflow as a result of the monsoon rains in Assam and upstream Arunachal Pradesh.
Arunachal Pradesh
The heavy rain also caused flooding in the neighbouring state of Arunachal Pradesh, where the Noa-Dehing river overflowed flooding several areas in Namsai district, according to local media.
This is the second spate of heavy rain in the last 4 weeks in the state. As many as 18 people were killed in Arunachal Pradesh after heavy rain triggered 2 major landslides in April 2016.
Tripura
In Tripura state, around 4,000 people from 800 families were forced from ther homes by floods in Dharmanagar, North Tripura district, according to local media.
Forecast
Over the next 24 h more heavy rain is forecast for the affected areas as the depression in the Bay of Bengal continues to affect the eastern states of India and strengthen as it moves towards south-eastern Bangladesh later in the week.
As Tropical Cyclone Roanu sits in the Bay of Bengal, Indian Meteorology Department (IMD) have forecast heavy rain for Assam for the next 48 hours, as well as Andhra Pradesh, Odisha and Meghalaya. The area of depression that preceded Roanu has already caused major devastation across Sri Lanka.
In their forecast of 20 May, 2016, IMD say:
“Heavy to very heavy rain very likely at most places with heavy to very heavy falls at a few places and isolated extremely falls over Coastal Andhra Pradesh; Heavy to very heavy rainfall very likely at few places over Odisha and Assam and Meghalaya; Heavy rain at isolated places very likely over West Bengal and Sikkim and Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram and Tripura.
Thunderstorms accompanied with squall likely at isolated places over Bihar, Jharkhand, Assam and Meghalaya and Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram and Tripura.
Wind speeds reaching 6070 kmph gusting to 80 kmph very likely to prevail along & off coastal Odisha and wind speed reaching 90100 kmph gusting to 110 kmph is very likely to prevail along and off north Coastal Andhra Pradesh.”
Flood Summary
Locations
B - Karimganj
Damages
Karimganj
Hailakandi
