No less than 10 individuals have died to date resulting from steady rains since Friday leading to flooding and landslides in Meghalaya’s Garo Hills, authorities stated.
Chief Minister Conrad Sangma stated that flooding in West Garo Hills’ Dalu induced three deaths, whereas seven individuals from the identical household had been killed in a landslide in South Garo Hills’ Gasuapara. They had been buried alive and as of Saturday night, search operations had been nonetheless underway to retrieve their our bodies.
In response to the Chief Minister’s workplace, a number of rescue groups have been mobilised with NDRF requisitioned from Guwahati for West Garo Hills, the deployment of SDRF Tura and SDRF Shillong, together with civil defence, police and fireplace providers.
The district administrations have been directed to mobilise aid efforts and expedite ex-gratia funds to the households.
All 5 districts have been severely affected by the heavy rainfall lashing the area with West Garo Hills and South Garo Hills being essentially the most impacted.
The rainfall has additionally impacted connectivity and infrastructure with the Dalu-Baghmara highway, which connects the West Garo Hills and the South Garo Hills, being affected by a number of landslides.
The picket bridges that join these areas have been destroyed by floods whereas electrical energy connection has additionally been misplaced in a number of components of the area.
The IMD has forecasted rainfall over the following 5 days in most components of the North East.
