Flash Flood Strikes Guwahati Again

Flash flood hit Guwahati again on Monday after incessant rain since Monday morning inundated several areas of Guwahati, bringing the city life to a near standstill.

Sights of people wading through the flooded streets completed the picture of misery.

The Bharalu river flowing through the city submerged several localities including RG Baruah Road, Zoo Road Tiniali, Rajgarh, Bhangagarh, Mahapurush Srimanta Sankerdev Path (GS Road), Nabin Nagar, Tarun Nagar, Chandmari Colony, etc.

The traffic came to a halt in many places and the commuters faced a lot of problems in moving from one place to another.

The flash flood once again exposed lack of preparedness of the Guwahati Municipal Corporation (GMC) and the Guwahati Metropolitan Development Authority (GMDA) to deal with city flood.
Several citizens severely criticised the government in its lack of intent to deal with Guwahati flood.

"Numbers of schemes have been undertaken by the government to mitigate the flood problems of the city. However, in reality, we have witnessed just the opposite. Being the prime city of the northeast, recurrent floods make only make life impossible," said Rahul Das, a resident of Lachit Nagar area of the city.

"And it is not just the government apathy, but some uncivilized actions by the denizens have also catalyzed the problem. Garbage id dumped in open, the sewers are full of water-bottles and plastic bags, leaving no outlet for the excess water to flow out. Again, the wetlands have been filled up and high-rise buildings are constructed in its place. There are no places for the water to go out and this results in the flash flood," Das further added.