Three persons were killed after a landslide and flash floods due to heavy rain in Jorabat, Assam-Meghalaya border area .
Guwahati/Shillong
Thousands of people in Jorabat area in Assam-Meghalaya border were left homeless following heavy downpour on Thursday night, which continued for around three hours.
Flood water inundated the National-Highway 37 at Jorabat, 11th Mile, 10th Mile and at 8th Mile and National-Highway 6 at 12th Mile, 13th Mile and Jorabat.
The downpour started around 9.30pm in parts of Byrnihat, 13 Mile, Tamulkuchi and Jorabat in Meghalaya and Assam border and continued till midnight.
Indra Darji (59) died due to landslide in Jorabat area, while 22-year-old Rakhi Subedi and her two-and-half-year-old son Ayush died in a similar incident in Nine Mile’s Hastinapur area on Friday afternoon.
Police from both the states came to the spot to help the affected residents. District administration officials and police from Ri Bhoi reached the disaster site on Thursday night.
The impact of the night’s disaster was also felt the next day with flood water and slush on the road halting vehicles coming from both Meghalaya and Assam. It was complete chaos at Jorabat junction on Friday morning. The Khanapara junction too witnessed water logging besides mud, which slowed down traffic. Hundreds of cars and heavy vehicles from Assam were stranded.
Assam police had stopped vehicles from Meghalaya to clear the traffic on the other side creating congestion. To add to the melee, people drove from the wrong side of the road. Flood water entered shops and houses along the highway.
The Guwahati-Shillong road was recently flooded after a deluge and many NGOs in Assam had time and again expressed concern over water logging in the area.
Meanwhile, Jorabat Police in-charge Birinchi Das is being hailed here as a hero as he waded through chest-deep water alone and rescued around 30 passengers, including a baby. Das was later joined by a few locals and passersby in his rescue work.
