Indian floods kill 27, displace 900,000

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Indian floods kill 27, displace 900,000

GUWAHATI, India — At least 27 people have died and 900,000 others have been forced to leave their homes as monsoon rains swamp wide areas of the northeastern Indian state of Assam, officials said on Thursday.

A state government spokesman said 21 of Assam's 27 districts were hit by flash floods which began last weekend as the rains lashed the tea and oil-rich Indian state.

"So far, 27 people have died in separate incidents including five who were killed when their boat sank," Assam Agriculture Minister Nilamoni Sen Deka told AFP in Guwahati, the state's largest city.He also said the Brahmaputra river was overflowing its banks in many places.

Deka said an estimated 900,000 people had been displaced from their homes due to the flooding."Most of the displaced people have been forced to take shelter on raised platforms and in tarpaulin tents," Deka added.

"All major rivers are running menacingly high with breaches reported in many places," added Assam health minister Himanta Biswa Sarma as rescuers set up 1,500 temporary shelters for people stranded.In nearby Bangladesh, the death toll from a series of flash floods and landslides rose above 100 on Thursday.

The annual monsoon, crucial to India's food production and economic growth, arrived over the tropical country earlier in the month.

Indian agriculture gets 60 percent of its precipitation from the rains and a bad monsoon can spell financial disaster for the country's 235 million farmers.

Copyright © 2012 AFP. All rights reserved.

 

[jbond197]

Why can't there be a mechanism in place which gets triggered if there is excessive water due to what so ever reason and that should divert the water out of the area to escape flooding, deaths and public property damage.

 

[DelhiDareDevil]

There are always flood reports in North East India and Bangladesh.

Why can't the govt do something in advance?

 

[Android]

Why can't there be a mechanism in place which gets triggered if there is excessive water due to what so ever reason and that should divert the water out of the area to escape flooding, deaths and public property damage.

i dont know much about it but i read somewhere Vajpayee wanted to start a similar project but after congress came to power they stopped it

 

[T90TankGuy]

i dont know much about it but i read somewhere Vajpayee wanted to start a similar project but after congress came to power they stopped it

not the govt but the supreme court . the environmentalists blocked it .

 

[meghdut]

Maybe Chinese diverting Brahmaputra wont be a bad idea at all.At least thats how I feel during fall season.

 

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Why can't there be a mechanism in place which gets triggered if there is excessive water due to what so ever reason and that should divert the water out of the area to escape flooding, deaths and public property damage.

The only way to divert water is through Bangladesh into Bay of Bengal.Brahmputra water shed is huge and the river has a flatter bed because of sedimentation thus the problem of flooding.

The Water Resource Department officials said the rivers flowing from the Eastern Himalayas are swifter and carry more sediment compared to those originating from Nagaland, Meghalaya or Manipur. “Owing to increased deforestation and dam construction work, the rivers carry heavy quantities of sand, leading to increased erosion,” an official in the department said.

While the Brahmaputra bed has risen due to the earthquake that struck the territory in 1950, the increased sediment load has further disturbed the natural flow of the river. Officials are, however, concerned over the alarming rate at which the silt is flowing into the Brahmaputra from its tributaries, especially from Bhutan and Arunachal Pradesh.

High sediment load has made Brahmaputra flood-prone: experts