GUWAHATI, May 1 ? Assam accounts for 9.4 per cent of the total flood ? prone area of the country and every year, floods cause heavy damage to the economy of the State. The National Flood Commission estimated the area vulnerable to floods in Assam as 31.60 lakh hectares against 335.16 lakh hectares in the whole country.
According to the latest report of the Economic Survey of Assam, Successive waves of devastating floods every year virtually destroyed the economy of the State. The main factors for floods in Assam include adverse physiography of the region, heavy rain fall, excessive sedimentation, frequent occurrence of earthquakes, reduction of the forest area, excroachment of the reverine area etc. Usually Assam experiences incessant rainfall during the monsoon season, which lasts from May to mid October. Occurrence of floods in Assam has direct corelation with the catchment areas of Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland and Bhupen, the report said.
The Economic Survey report said that major floods occurred in the State in 1954, 1962, 1966, 1972, 1977, 1984 and 1998, but at least three to four waves of floods hit the State, causing extensive damage to standing crops. As per the report, the total value of damages caused by floods in the year 1998 was estimated to the tune of Rs 49,694.98 lakh. The total damages in 1999 and 2000 were Rs 5195.99 lakh and Rs 19000.02 lakh respectively, the report said. The floods claimed 28 lives in 1997, 125 in 1998, three in 1999 and 36 persons were killed in floods in 2000. Similarly, the value of crop loss in the year 1998 was Rs 46,330.36 lakh, while, it was Rs 17,351.57 lakh in 2000.