The North East region continues to reel under the onslaught of relentless monsoon rains, with widespread floods, landslides, and infrastructure damage causing large-scale displacement and loss of lives.
As per official reports, nearly 40 people have lost their lives across multiple states, while several lakhs of people have been affected or stranded amid rising waters and damaged infrastructure.
From Assam and Manipur to Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh, the situation has turned grim, with rivers breaching banks, roads washed away, and hillsides collapsing under saturated soil.
Sikkim: Three army personnel died and six soldiers went missing after a landslide hit a military camp at Chhaten in Sikkim, a defence official said on Monday. The landslide, which occurred at 7 p.m. on Sunday near Lachen town in Mangan district, was triggered by heavy rainfall in the area, he said.
Bodies of the personnel have been recovered, while four other soldiers were rescued with minor injuries, the official said in a statement.
On Thursday, one person was killed, two injured, and eight others went missing when a vehicle in which 11 tourists were travelling plunged into the Teesta river in Mangan district.
Arunachal Pradesh: With one more death reported from Lohit district, the toll in landslides and floods in Arunachal Pradesh rose to 10 even as incessant monsoon rains lashed the state on Monday, officials said.
According to the State Emergency Operation Centre (SEOC), 938 people in 156 villages in 23 districts have been affected by the monsoon deluge. The body of Guptajit Bharali, swept away by flooded Sukha Nallah in Upper Digaru was recovered downstream at Lasa Pani in Lohit district on Sunday.
In East Kameng district, a devastating landslide on the Bana–Seppa stretch of NH-13 late on Friday night swept away a vehicle carrying two families, killing all seven occupants.
In another incident, two labourers were buried under debris while working on a cabbage farm near Pine Grove in Lower Subansiri district. Two others were rescued.
Two persons, one from Assam’s Dispur at Parshuram Kund in Lohit district and another in Anjaw district, have gone missing in separate incidents, the report said, adding, search operations were currently underway.
Assam: The flood situation in Assam remained grim on Monday with the water levels rising in many parts of the state, officials said.
The India Meteorological Department’s Regional Meteorological Centre (RMC) in Guwahati has said that moderate rainfall is very likely to occur at most places of Assam, while heavy to very heavy rainfall has been predicted at a few places and extremely heavy rainfall in isolated places.
A report by the Assam State Disaster Management Authority (ASDMA) on Sunday night said that two more people lost their lives in Cachar and Sribhumi districts, and nearly five lakh people are reeling under the deluge across 15 districts. The total number of people losing their lives in this year’s flood and landslides has increased to 10.
Cachar is the worst hit with over one lakh people affected, followed by 85,000 people in Sribhumi and 62,000 in Nagaon, it added.
At present, 764 villages are under water and 3,524.38 hectares of crop areas have been damaged across Assam, the ASDMA said.
At present, the mighty Brahmaputra is flowing above the danger mark at Dibrugarh and Nimatighat.
Manipur: More than 19,000 people have been affected by floods in Manipur caused by overflowing rivers and breaches in embankments, officials said on Monday.
They said 3,365 houses have been damaged and 19,811 people affected by floods triggered by incessant torrential rains during the last four days.
Forty-seven landslides have been reported in different parts of the state during the last four days. Several localities in the state’s capital Imphal, and many parts of Imphal East district have been inundated after a swollen river breached embankments and overflowed in Khurai, Heingang and Checkon areas, they said.
Mizoram: All schools across Mizoram remained shut on Monday due to heavy rain that triggered landslides, mudslides, rockfalls and waterlogging in different parts of the state, an official said.
School Education Department Director Angela Zothanpuii said that all the 11 district administrations announced the closure of schools on Monday as a precautionary measure to ensure the safety of the students.
Although there was no rain, the state capital Aizawl experienced cloudy weather on Monday morning.
At least five people, including three Myanmarese refugees, have been killed so far due to landslides, house collapses and other calamities triggered by heavy rain that lashed the state since May 24.
A total of 211 landslides have been reported in different parts of the state till Sunday, and highways have been blocked at 83 locations, they said.
Tripura: The flood situation in Tripura has started improving as not much rain was received on Monday and the rivers have started flowing much below the danger mark, officials said.
However, over 10,000 people continued to remain in government relief camps.
The state administration has opened 66 relief camps across affected districts, currently sheltering 2,926 families or 10,813 individuals. West Tripura district has the highest number of operational camps, with 50 shelters housing 2,352 families, he said.
Preliminary damage assessments indicate that 219 houses have been affected, with one house fully damaged, 104 severely damaged, and 124 partially damaged.