Guwahati: Almost 2 lakh people from 17 revenue circles covering seven districts in Assam have already been affected during the first wave of flood till Tuesday night.
According to official sources, crop area covering 1,007 hectares of land have also affected as almost all the major rivers in Assam are in spate.
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Till Tuesday, a population of 1,94,916 were hit in 229 villages of 17 revenue circles in the affected districts.
Districts like Kokrajhar, Chirang, Baksa, Dhemaji, Lakhimpur, Darrang, Nalbari, Goalpara, Dibrugarh and Tinsukia districts were reeling under the first wave of floods. Jia Bharali river in Sonitpur district and Brahmaputra at Neamatighat in Jorhat were flowing above the danger level. The affected areas included 140 villages in Goalpara, 26 villages in Nalbari, 19 villages each in Tinsukia and Dhemaji, six villages in Dibrugarh and two villages in Lakhimpur district.
A total of 8,971 people are taking shelter in 35 relief camps set up by the administration of the affected districts.
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Flood waters breached the embankment of Buradia river at Amoni village of Nalbari district. Moreover, Subansiri river has triggered heavy erosion in Lakhimpur district. Sonitpur and Nalbari were also hit by erosion.
A number of roads in Dhemaji, Nalbari and Goalpara districts and a number of bridges and culverts in Nalbari, Bongaigaon and Goalpara district were damaged in the floods so far.
The water levels of all the major rivers in Goalpara district like Dudhnoi, Krishnai and Jinjiram are rising due to heavy rains in the area while the Jinjiram river is flowing above the danger mark.
Earlier, the floodwaters washed away a portion of the Agia-Lakhipur road at Sigri, which is around 5 km away from Lakhipur town, snapping road communications.
Meanwhile, floodwaters have also submerged roads and some houses in the worst-affected areas under Lakhipur revenue circle.
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Meanwhile, failing to get a response from the authorities concerned to repair the embankment along the Puthimari river at Goreswar in Bakaa district despite their repeated requests, villagers in large numbers came to streets and voluntarily repaired the damaged portion of the embankment.
Criticising the government for its alleged negligence to repair the embankment, the people in the locality have thanked each other for repairing the embankment and solving a major problem of the masses as the increasing water of Puthimari river may create havoc in the area at any time.