Tripura flood death toll rises to 12, more NDRF teams deployed (Lead)

Agartala, Aug 22 (IANS) The flood situation in Tripura, which has been lashed by heavy rains for the last four days, remained grim on Thursday and the India Meteorological Department (IMD) retained its ‘Red alert’ for all eight districts, officials said.They added that more National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) teams have been deployed as the rains and floods continue to play havoc.Till Thursday, 12 deaths, including that of a 12-year-old girl and a woman were reported from South Tripura, Gomati, and Khowai districts and two persons were also said to be missing.A Disaster Management Department official said that two more fresh casualties due to the floods were reported from south Tripura and Gomati districts, while around 65,500 people are taking shelter in 450 relief camps in all eight districts.He said that 17 lakh people were affected in the entire state, which witnessed the monsoon flood in such a catastrophic manner for the first time in several decades.Chief Minister Manik Saha, who is supervising the disaster management work, spoke to Union Home Minister Amit Shah for the second day on Thursday and apprised him of the prevailing scenario.Home Minister Shah said in a post on X, “Spoke with CM Tripura, Dr Manik Saha, and took stock of the flood situation in the state. The Centre is rushing teams of NDRF, apart from boats and helicopters, to the state to assist the local government in relief and rescue operations. Assured of all possible assistance from the Centre as and when required. The Modi government firmly stands with our sisters and brothers in Tripura during this hour of crisis.”Later, the Chief Minister while expressing gratitude to the Home Minister said that HM Shah informed him that 11 NDRF teams would be sent to Tripura from different locations in Assam and Arunachal Pradesh.He said arrangements would also be made for choppers to airlift stranded people in the flood-affected areas.“More number of boats would also be sent along with the NDRF teams. The entire state government machinery has been working round the clock to tackle the unprecedented natural calamity. I thank public representatives, social workers and the people at large for cooperating with the state government in this hour of crisis,” CM Saha said.The central government has provided two helicopters for airlifting stranded people in Gomati and South Tripura districts.Following the directions of the state government, due to the heavy rain and flooding, all educational institutions remained closed.An India Meteorological Department (IMD) official said that though a ‘heavy’ to ‘very heavy’ rainfall alert has been continued and a ‘Red alert’ has been sounded in all eight districts, the rain is likely to reduce slightly from Thursday evening.“The low pressure area over north Bangladesh and neighbourhood persisted over the same region on Thursday. The associated cyclonic circulation now extends up to 9.4 km above mean sea level. It is likely to move nearly westwards across West Bengal during the next 48 hours. Additionally, a cyclonic circulation is likely to form over North Bay of Bengal and neighbourhood on August 24,” the official said.The IMD recorded 233 mm rainfall in Agartala from 8.30 A.M. on August 21 to till 8.30 A.M. on Thursday.According to Disaster Management Department officials over 1,055 houses were damaged either fully or partially and hundreds of trees were uprooted blocking many important highways.Landslides occurred in 2,032 places across the state, out of which 1,789 locations were cleared by Thursday evening.As per preliminary estimates, around 5,000 hectares of vegetable farms and 1.20 lakh hectares of other crop lands are still submerged.Water Resource Department officials said that most of the prominent rivers in Tripura were either flowing above ‘critical’ or ‘danger’ levels while the state’s main river Gomati has crossed the ‘extreme danger’ level in many places of Gomati and Sepahijala districts, as rainfall has continued.The Northeast Frontier Railways (NFR) has cancelled 10 local trains in Tripura.An NFR spokesman said that due to heavy rain railway tracks were damaged in Gomati district, forcing the authorities to cancel these trains.A Defence spokesman said that following the requisition from state administrations, four columns of Assam Rifles were deployed in different districts and they were working in close coordination with the civil administration to rescue civilians stranded due to floods.First aid and essential items have been distributed by the Assam Rifles to hundreds of stranded people and those in relief camps.–IANSsc/rad