Three dead as incessant rains, landslide disrupt life in Northeast

Guwahati, May 30: Three people, including a child, died in three northeastern states while normal life in most of the states in the region was badly affected due to heavy rains triggered by a depression in the Bay of Bengal in the past 24 hours, officials said on Friday.

Mizoram, Tripura and Nagaland, registered three deaths each on a day when several districts across the seven states, including the largest city of the region, Guwahati, witnessing relentless rains and few landslides in several areas.

An official of the Mizoram Disaster Management Authority said that one person died and another was injured as a wall collapsed at Thuampui in Mizoram's Aizawl on Friday after incessant rains.

According to the official, a retaining wall collapsed causing the death of Lalnunmawia, 36, while Lalfakzuala, 35, was injured and is under medical treatment.

Another official said that schools in Aizawl district remained closed for the second consecutive day on Friday as incessant rain lashed the mountainous state, triggering landslides in different parts of the state.

In Tripura, a 16-year-old child Tanmoy Debnath drowned while fishing in a pond after incessant rains at Jirania in West Tripura district.

Due to the rain since Thursday, 106 houses, including 33, were severely damaged in different districts while more than 210 people comprising 57 families took shelter in four relief camps in West Tripura and Khowai districts.

In Nagaland, a rockfall incident on National Highway-29 at the Pagala Pahar stretch in Chumoukedima district claimed the life of a truck driver on Friday after rocks and sludges fell on the moving truck.

The Nagaland State Disaster Management Authority (NSDMA) has said that in the coming days, the state would see heavy rainfall in nearly every district until June 5, with isolated thunderstorms and lightning.

Meanwhile in Guwahati, water-logged streets and nightmarish traffic brought the city to a grinding halt.

Incessant rain since Thursday caused waterlogging in several parts of the city for the second consecutive day on Friday. Flash floods in several localities, including Chandmari, Rukminigaon, Survey and Hatigaon, severely affected normal life.

The Assam State Disaster Management Authority (ASDMA), in a statement, said that the IMD has predicted inclement weather over Assam with the likelihood of heavy to extremely heavy rainfall expected across western and southern parts of the state in the next two to three days.

The ASDMA’s statement further informed that an advisory from the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), on Friday, said that a deep depression over northwest Bay of Bengal off West Bengal-Bangladesh coasts was moving northwards with a speed of 22 km per hour.

It reportedly crossed the West Bengal–Bangladesh coasts on Friday morning and remained centred there, maintaining its intensity as a deep depression over the northeastern states until the evening of May 31.

The MHA, in this regard, published warning of exceptionally heavy rainfall over Assam and Meghalaya and wind speed reaching 50-60 km per hour gusting to 70 km per hour over the states states in next 24 hours.

Light to moderate rains, flash floods, and landslides also affected life in Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh and Manipur.

The state and district authorities are closely monitoring the situation and emergency response systems are being kept on alert, the advisory said.

--IANS