Guwahati: Five more people died in flood-related incidents in Assam and 35.76 lakh people across 28 of the 33 districts in the state are now affected, an official bulletin said on Friday.

One person each died in Dhubri, Darrang, Bongaigaon, Goalpara and Kamrup districts, the Assam State Disaster Management Authority (ASDMA) said in its bulletin.

Though the number of districts affected by the deluge increased by one since Thursday, that of the flood victims decreased by around 4 lakh.

The total number of people losing their lives in this year's flood and landslides in the state has gone up to 102. While 76 people died in flood-related incidents, 26 were killed in landslides, the bulletin said.

Dhubri is the worst-hit district with over 8.92 lakh people affected, followed by 4.43 lakh in Goalpara and 4.30 lakh in Barpeta, it said.

Personnel of the State Disaster Response Force and district administrations and local people have rescued 2,389 people during the last 24 hours.

At present, 3,014 villages are under water and 1,27,955.33 hectares of crop areas have been affected across Assam, the ASDMA said.

It said the authorities are running 711 relief camps and distribution centres across 24 districts, where 51,421 people have taken shelter.

The Brahmaputra river is flowing above the danger mark at Dhubri and Goalpara cities, at Nimatighat in Jorhat and at Tezpur in Sonitpur districts, while the Barak river is flowing above the danger mark at AP Ghat in Cachar and at Badarpurghat in Karimganj.

Its tributaries Dhansiri, Jia Bharali, Kopili, Beki and Kushiyara are also flowing above the danger level at various places, the bulletin said.

Embankments, roads, bridges, culverts and other infrastructure have been damaged at various places in Udalguri, Lakhimpur, Chirang, Darrang, Barpeta, Morigaon, Kamrup, Majuli, Nagaon and Bongaigaon districts.

Massive erosions have also been witnessed at different places of Biswanath, Udalguri, Darrang and South Salmara districts, ASDMA said.

The deluge has so far taken away the lives of 86 animals of different species in Kaziranga National Park and Rajiv Gandhi Orang National Park.

Quoting the DFO of Eastern Assam Wildlife Division, the bulletin said 125 animals were rescued in Kaziranga National Park.

The flood has also affected 31,48,133 domestic animals and poultry across the state during the last 24 hours.

Meanwhile, Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, on Friday wrote a letter to Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal expressing concern over the flood situation in Assam.

"I am writing to you today to express my sadness at the loss of life and devastation of property, as well as the tremendous hardship caused to so many due to flooding in many parts of your state...

"As a gesture of solidarity with the people of Assam, I am making a donation from the Dalai Lama Trust towards relief and rescue efforts," the letter read.

The amount of donation, however, was not mentioned in the tweet posted in this regard by the Tibetan guru's office.

Sonowal expressed gratitude to the Dalai lama for standing by the flood-hit people of the state.

The flood-affected districts are Dhemaji, Lakhimpur, Biswanath, Sonitpur, Darrang, Baksa, Nalbari, Barpeta, Chirang, Bongaigaon, Kokrajhar, Dhubri, South Salmara, Goalpara, Kamrup, Kamrup Metropolitan, Morigaon, Nagaon, Hojai, Golaghat, Jorhat, Majuli, Sivasagar, Dibrugarh, Tinsukia, Karbi Anglong, West Karbi Anglong and Cachar.

Heavy rainfall in coming days may accentuate flood conditions: IMD

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) Friday forecast heavy rains over north and northeast India and issued a red warning for West Bengal, Assam and Meghalaya from July 19-21.

It also issued a red warning for Arunachal Pradesh from 19-20 and orange alert for July 21.

The expected rains are further likely to worsen the flood situation in Assam, where more than 39.8 lakh people in 27 of the state's 33 districts were affected by the deluge as on Thursday, it said.

The total number of people losing their lives in this year's flood and landslides in the state has gone up to 102. While 76 people died in flood-related incidents, 26 were killed in landslides, a bulletin by the state government said.

An orange alert has also been issued from July 19-20 for Uttarakhand, Punjab, Delhi, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. 

The IMD said monsoon is most likely to shift northwards gradually towards foothills of Himalayas from July 18.

In addition, the convergence of moist southerly, south-westerly winds from the Bay of Bengal over Northeast and adjoining East India and from the Arabian Sea over northwest India at lower tropospheric levels very likely from July 18.

Due to this, rainfall distribution and intensity is very likely to increase over the northern and northeastern parts of the country from July 18 and 19 respectively.

Isolated heavy to very heavy falls is very likely over north India during July 18 - 20 and over northeast east India during July 18 -21.

Extremely heavy falls are also very likely over sub-Himalayan West Bengal, Sikkim, Assam and Meghalaya during July 19- 21 over Arunachal Pradesh during July 19 -20, the IMD said.

This may accentuate existing flood conditions and also lead to landslides in some areas of northeastern states and sub-Himalayan West Bengal and Sikkim, the statement said.

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