The flood situation in Assam continued to be desperate on Thursday with 1.80 lakh people affected across seven districts. Kokrajhar became the latest district to be inundated. According to the Assam State Disaster Management Authority, there was no let-up in the rise of water level of the Brahmaputra and its tributaries on Thursday. The Brahmaputra, which originates in the Tibetan plateau, continued to flow above the danger mark at Nematighat in Jorhat, Tezpur in Sonitpur and in Dhubri on Thursday. Tributaries of the river like Dhansiri, Jia Bharali, Puthimari, Beki and Sankosh also flowed in spate. Almost 19,000 hectares of agricultural land remained inundated on Thursday and some new areas, too, went under water. The situation in Golaghat and Jorhat in upper Assam turned grave on Thursday with over 60,000 and 50,000 people affected in the two districts, respectively. The floods have spelt disaster for areas like Malowpathar, a major fish production hub of the state about 8 km from Jorhat city. The fisheries of Malowpather provide employment to hundreds of youths in the district which has over 6,000 fish ponds and tanks spread across 1,177 hectares. Many of these fish ponds have suffered during the second wave of floods in the state. “The floods have dealt a devastating blow to fisheries. All the ponds in our locality are under water. Many families had invested money in the fisheries but they have lost their fishes and funds. I don’t know how this sector will be revived,” Basanta Gogoi, who works in a local school, rued. Officials of the state fisheries department said they were assessing the damage caused by the floods.
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