32 dead as floods, landslides devastate northeast in early monsoon season

GUWAHATI/IMPHAL/SHILLONG/ITANAGAR/AIZAWL: At least 32 people died in landslides and floods in the last 24 hours as heavy rains, triggered by a depression over north Bangladesh and adjoining Meghalaya battered five northeastern states, bringing down houses, flooding large swathes and causing rockfalls and mudslides.Authorities said Assam, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Mizoram and Arunachal Pradesh received the brunt of the early monsoon onset with devastating consequences.In Assam, altogether 9 people lost their lives. While two persons died in upper Assam's Lakhimpur district after excessive water released from Ranganadi dam inundated several villages bordering Arunachal Pradesh, in Guwahati, five people, including three children, died after a landslide in the Bonda area hit them. In Golaghat Assam State Disaster Management Authority (ASDMA) confirmed two more deaths, including that of a child, before adding that 12 districts of the state were affected by flood.The landslide victims in Guwahati have been identified as Poonam Goswami, her minor daughter, and a neighbouring minor girl. All of them perished when their house were buried in a mudslide on Friday evening. At Datalpara, a minor boy, and in Maligaon, another man died when landslides swept away their homes.

"Water started surging and entered our rooms at around 8 pm and we packed luggage and put it above the almirah. There was no provision to cook food either as the kitchen was also inundated," said Hemanta Kalita, a resident of Bonda in Guwahati.

"366 hilly locations are landslide prone in Guwahati but most of these people continue to reside risking their lives," a senior district administration official said.Guwahati and Tezpur saw their highest-ever rainfall in recorded IMD history for the month of May, with Guwahati receiving 111 mm and Tezpur 174 mm in the past 24 hours, officials confirmed on Saturday. Basanti Rai, a housewife of Rukminigaon said neither was there any effort to flush out flood water, not was preparedness in place to improve drainage around the nearby areas. "Situation in Rukminigaon is going from from bad to worse in last few years," she said. In Guwahati, government offices and educational institutions remained closed due to unprecedented urban floods.In Arunachal Pradesh, seven members of two families died in a car accident when their vehicle was swept off the road by a landslide along the Bana-Seppa stretch of National Highway 13 in East Kameng district late Friday night.

They were travelling to Seppa when the vehicle plunged into a gorge due to a sudden landslide. In a separate incident in Lower Subansiri district, two labourers lost their lives when a landslide struck a cabbage farm near Pine Grove.

CM Pema Khandu announced ex-gratia of Rs 4 lakhs each to the families of the deceased, as per government norms.Seven persons, including three children, died in Meghalaya in the last 24 hours due to landslides, drowning and lightning.Cherrapunji and Mawsynram, among the world's wettest places, witnessed one of the heaviest single-day rains with 47 cm rainfall in a single day.On National Highway-29 in Chümoukedima district, Nagaland, a person was killed on Friday when a rock struck a dumper because of a landslip.While IMD said rainfall intensity could reduce across most parts of the northeast within the next 24 hours, most people kept provisions at home and were bracing for more rain days.Six persons died in Mizoram in the last 24 hours, including three Myanmarese nationals who perished after a hotel collapsed in Mizoram due to a landslide.Villages located in low-lying areas were swept under flood waters, especially in Sairang village near Aizawl where the swollen river Tlawng forced families to move to higher grounds. Reports from Tlabung town in south Mizoram's Lunglei district bordering Bangladesh said local leaders have been making preparations for shifting families living on the banks of river Karnaphuli.In Manipur, Iril and Nambul rivers swelled above danger levels on Saturday morning.A viral video circulated in social media showed people trying to save two children in the floods. Kangpokpi, which is the catchment area of the Imphal river, received 175 mm of rainfall in 72 hours. Officials said Imphal river is already flowing above high flood level and has caused breaches at few locations.