Flood situation in Assam continued to be grim on Thursday as people remained affected following a breach in an embankment in Lakhimpur district while several other districts were also reeling under swirling water of the Brahmaputra and its tributaries in the second wave of floods.

Official sources in Guwahati said that an embankment breached in Mathmara area of Lakhimpur, which is reeling under severe floods since the first wave of floods hit the state in June.

People have been shifted to safer places while work was on to repair the embankment.

The cause of the first wave of flood in the district was releasing of excess of water by NEEPCO from its dams in neighbouring Arunachal Pradesh and it was yet to recover from this when it was hit by the second wave during the first week of July. The worst affected areas are Dhakuakhana and Bihpuria.

The situation in neighbouring Dhemaji district was grim with vast tracts of habitation and cropland inundated by the rising water of Rivers Gai and Jiadhol.

The second wave of flood has so far affected a population of more than twenty five lakh people.

Flood alert in Meghalaya
An alert has been sounded in the plain belts of Meghalaya as incessant rains since Monday triggered flash floods in several parts of the north eastern state washing away a person and causing a series of landslides, besides inundating roads and cropland.

One person was washed away and six houses were destroyed in West Garo Hills district in the flash floods, official sources said in Shillong on Thursday.

Most rivers like Jinjiram, Ganol and Simsang were in spate, nearing the danger level.

Road blocks were reported from the Garo Hills region and one bridge was washed away by the flood waters at Purakhasia area, the sources said.

The administration has asked the concerned agencies like police, disaster management team and home guards to be on alert.

The Umni river in Est Khasi Hills was also swelling prompting locals to shift to safer places, official sources said.