Agartala: At least seven persons, including three members of a family, were killed, while two persons went missing in separate incidents of landslides and drowning following incessant rainfall in Tripura since Monday, an official said on Tuesday.
Disaster Management Department officials said that three members of a family including a woman and a child died at Debipur in South Tripura district when their house collapsed due to a massive landslide late on Monday night.
Villagers recovered the three bodies on Tuesday morning. The deceased were identified as Trisankar Chakma (50), his wife Rajini Chakma (41) and their daughter Mita Chakma (12).
The official said that another 14-year-old boy (Biresh Debbarma) was killed on Tuesday when his house collapsed at Teliamura in Khowai district, while one Mauai Reang (52) was killed and another villager went missing in a landslide at Karbook area in Gomati district.
Two more persons were killed and another went missing in South Tripura district due to landslides and drowning.
Revenue Department Secretary Brijesh Pandey said that due to incessant rainfall since Monday, water levels of several rivers in Tripura have increased significantly, leading to flooding in many areas, badly affecting South Tripura and Gomati districts.
Four rivers — Howrah, Dhalai, Muhuri and Khowai — were flowing above the danger level on Tuesday evening.
Pandey said that Chief Minister Manik Saha, who is in Delhi, has been taking stock of the flood situation on a regular basis, and he would hold a review meeting on the flood situation on his return from the national capital.
He said that the district administration have opened a total of 183 relief camps to provide shelter to 5,607 affected families in four districts of the state — West Tripura, Gomati, South Tripura and Khowai.
Besides the district administration, water resources, Power, PWD, Forest, Police, Fire and Emergency Service, various paramilitary and disaster management forces are working round the clock to mitigate the impact of floods and to provide relief and rescue operations for affected families.
Besides landslides, road blockades due to collapsed and uprooted trees have also been noticed in many places, the official said.
As per the forecast of the India Meteorological Department (IMD), due to the active monsoon, there will be light to moderate rainfall across all districts of Tripura for the next two days.
The IMD has issued a ‘red alert’ for South Tripura district and an ‘orange alert’ for the rest of the state.
(IANS)
