At least 23 people have been killed and more than 65,000 displaced by floods and landslides triggered by torrential rains in the northeastern Indian state of Tripura, where soldiers were today ferrying people to safety using lifeboats.
Television footage showed army personnel manning a rescue boat while cars and buses were stranded on roads in knee-deep water, and disaster management officials said four days of incessant rain had caused rivers to overflow.
“Since this morning the water level in most rivers has dropped below the critical levels,” said one of them, Suman Deb, adding that the intensity of the rain has decreased since yesterday, Thursday night.
“However, the level in the Gomti River remains above danger levels,” he added, referring to the state’s main river and a tributary of the Ganges, which flows through Comilla district in neighboring Bangladesh and empties into the Bay of Bengal.
The displaced have gathered in 450 camps, according to officials, while the total number of those affected is estimated at around 1.7 million. It is also estimated that extensive damage has been caused to infrastructure, crops and livestock herds.
Most of the deaths were caused by landslides, although some were due to collapsing walls and drowning, said another disaster management official, who asked not to be named as he was not authorized to speak to the media.
The Indian Army announced that more than 80 personnel are involved in the rescue operations, clarifying that they rescued 334 people who were trapped in flooded areas.
In neighboring Bangladesh, a dam collapsed under the pressure of the Gomti’s rushing waters late last night, flooding at least 15 villages, displacing hundreds of families, officials and witnesses said.
The total death toll from the floods in Bangladesh has reached 13, while more than three million people are trapped, according to the country’s disaster management ministry.
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