32 dead in 2 days as flash floods, landslides wreak havoc in northeast in early monsoon rains

At least 32 people have died in landslides and floods in the last 2 days as heavy rains, triggered by a depression over north Bangladesh and adjoining Meghalaya battered five northeastern states, bringing down houses, flooding large swathes and causing rockfalls and mudslides.

Assam, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Mizoram and Arunachal Pradesh received the brunt of the early monsoon onset.

Two people died in upper Assam's Lakhimpur district after excessive water released from Ranganadi dam flooded several villages bordering Arunachal Pradesh. In Guwahati, five people, including three children, died after a landslide in the Bonda area hit them.

In Golaghat Assam State Disaster Management Authority (ASDMA) confirmed two more deaths, including that of a child. They added 12 districts of the state were affected by flood.

Guwahati and Tezpur saw their highest-ever rainfall in recorded IMD history for the month of May, with Guwahati receiving 111 mm and Tezpur 174 mm in the past 24 hours, officials confirmed on Saturday.

In Arunachal Pradesh, seven members of two families died in a car accident when their vehicle was swept off the road by a landslide along the Bana-Seppa stretch of National Highway 13 in East Kameng district late Friday night. In a separate incident in Lower Subansiri district, two labourers lost their lives when a landslide struck a cabbage farm near Pine Grove. 

Seven persons, including three children, died in Meghalaya in the last 24 hours due to landslides, drowning and lightning.

Meanwhile, six people died in Mizoram in the last 24 hours, including three Myanmarese nationals who were killed after a hotel collapsed in Mizoram due to a landslide.

IMD rain alert

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has said that rainfall, thunderstorms, and gusty winds are likely over northwest India for the next 4-5 days due to the western disturbance.

In Northeast India, fairly widespread light to moderate rainfall will likely continue during the next 7 days. It also said that heavy rainfall was likely over Sub-Himalayan West Bengal and Sikkim from May 30 to June 1.

Heavy rains were also predicted for Assam, Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, and Tripura during the next seven days. Isolated extremely heavy rainfall is likely over Assam and Meghalaya on May 30 and June 1.

In Northwest India, scattered to fairly widespread light/moderate rainfall accompanied by thunderstorms, lightning, and gusty winds reaching 40-50 kmph is likely over Jammu-Kashmir-Ladakh-Gilgit-Baltistan-Muzaffarabad, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh, and Delhi; isolated to scattered rainfall over Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, during May 30 to June 3.

IMD will issue the forecast for the July rainfall in the last week of June.