4 killed as heavy rains, landslides bring Guwahati to standstill

Guwahati: Four people were killed in a massive landslide in Guwahati amid heavy rains that flooded the city, officials said on Tuesday.

A huge mass of land buried a house, in which there were four people, on a hillside in Nijarapar in Boragaon area, an official of the Assam State Disaster Management Authority (ASDMA) told PTI.

“The landslide happened around 1 am mainly due to incessant rains. No other person is trapped as of now,” ASDMA District Project Officer (Kamrup Metropolitan) Kaustav Talukdar said.

With this, the total number of persons losing their lives in this year’s flood and landslides has gone up to 42.

Talukdar said that landslides have been reported from another half a dozen places in the city, including Kamakhya, Kharghuli, Hengerabari, Silpukhuri and Chandmari Colony, but there were no casualties.

Incessant rains since Monday night led to knee-deep water on all major roads across the city, while at some places water levels have crossed the waist. The approach road of the Guwahati railway station was also submerged.

Scores of vehicles, including school buses, were stuck on the roads as their engines failed in the flood waters, which have also entered hundreds of houses in the ‘smart’ city.

Massive traffic jams were reported from many areas with vehicles stranded for several hours.

Flooding was reported from Zoo Road, RG Baruah Road, GS Road, Nabin Nagar, Anil Nagar, Hatigaon, Ganeshguri, Hedayetpur, MLA quarters in Dispur, Lachit Nagar, Tarun Nagar, Jyotikuchi, Ghoramara, VIP Road, Rajgarh Road, Jorabat and Chatribari, among others.

Residents of Nabin Nagar left their homes at night and came to the footpaths of Rajgarh in the heart of the city. They alleged that no one from the administration has reached out to them and all of them, including the kids, are without drinking water.

The Kamrup Metropolitan district administration has issued an advisory, asking people “not to venture out unless absolutely essential” in view of the incessant rains.

“If your residence is prone to water logging/landslides, please consider shifting to a safer location or please contact District Administration at 1077/ 86381 12297,” it tweeted.

The Regional Meteorological Centre in Guwahati on Monday issued ‘Red Alert’ for Assam and Meghalaya and predicted up to “isolated extremely heavy rainfall” from Tuesday to Thursday.

“…widespread/widespread rainfall accompanied with thunderstorm/lightning/heavy to very heavy with extremely heavy rainfall at isolated places is very likely to continue over Northeastern states during 13-17 June 2022,” the weather office said.