880 Lives Lost To Assam Floods From 2019 to 2023: Home Ministry

The Ministry of Home Affairs has reported a total of 880 casualties due to devastating floods in Assam from 2019 up to July 25, 2023.

Minister of State for Home Affairs Nityanand Rai provided this information in response to a query from MP Sushmita Dev in the Rajya Sabha on Thursday.

Detailing the figures, Rai stated that the casualties were as follows: 157 in 2019, 190 in 2020, 73 in 2021, 278 in 2022, 65 in 2023, and 117 up to July 25 of this year. These numbers were provided by the State Government of Assam.

The National Remote Sensing Centre (NRSC) and Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) have developed a state-level flood hazard zonation atlas for Assam, utilizing satellite data from 1998 to 2023. This atlas serves as a non-structural resource for flood hazard management and developmental planning.

Additionally, the North Eastern Space Applications Centre (NESAC) and Department of Space (DOS) have created a comprehensive River Atlas for Assam. This includes a geospatial database of the Brahmaputra River, detailing the river and drainage network, embankment locations, river gauge locations, and road/rail networks at a 1:5000 scale. This database is crucial for water resource planning and management.

NESAC and DOS have also identified 271 wetlands that can channel excess water from rivers, including the Brahmaputra, during the monsoon season. They have developed a Flood Early Warning System (FLEWS) for the Brahmaputra basin based on numerical rainfall prediction and a physics-based distributed hydrological model within a Geographic Information System (GIS) domain. Alerts are provided to the Assam State Disaster Management Authority (ASDMA) with a lead time of 24 to 36 hours.

The Central Water Commission (CWC) issues flood forecasts as a non-structural flood management measure to state governments at identified locations. It also provides inflow forecasts to reservoirs for proper regulation. CWC prepares 7-day advisory flood forecasts through basin-specific mathematical models, using India Meteorological Department (IMD) weather forecasts and near real-time satellite rainfall estimates. These advisories are disseminated through a dedicated web portal. Additionally, the CWC maintains 67 hydrological observation sites in the Barak basin and 173 in the Brahmaputra basin.

The Assam government has been implementing various flood and river bank erosion management schemes as recommended by the Rashtriya Barh Ayog (RBA). These measures include the protection of 16.50 lakh hectares of flood-affected land, construction of 4532 km of embankments, 1280 anti-erosion and town protection works, 122 major sluices, 545 minor sluices, and 1047.85 km of raising and strengthening existing dykes up to the year 2023-24.

Financial support from the Centre has also been significant, with Rs 503.10 crore released under the SDRF in 2019-20, Rs 617.60 crore in 2020-21, Rs 617.60 crore in 2021-22, Rs 648.80 crore in 2022-23, and Rs 680.80 crore in 2023-24.

Additional funds include Rs 44.37 crore from the NDRF in 2020-21, Rs 250 crore in 2022-23, and allocations under the SDMF totaling Rs 154.40 crore in 2020-21, Rs 154.40 crore in 2021-22, and Rs 162.20 crore in 2023-24.

Also Read: Assam Floods: 6 Districts Hit Harder, Even as Number of Affected People Drops