Heavy rains flood Guwahati, massive traffic jams on many roads

Guwahati: People of Guwahati on Tuesday faced a harrowing situation following a spell of heavy rains that flooded almost all peripheral roads, leading to massive traffic jams.

The rains that started in the early hours continued till afternoon, leading to knee-deep water on all roads across the city, while at some places water levels touched the chest.

Flooding was reported from Zoo Road, RG Baruah Road, GS Road, Nabin Nagar, Anil Nagar, Hatigaon, Ganeshguri, Maligaon, Hedayetpur, MLA quarters in Dispur, Lachit Nagar, Tarun Nagar, Jyotikuchi, Ghoramara, VIP Road, Rajgarh Road, Jorabat and Chatribari, among others.

Scores of vehicles, including school buses, were stuck on the roads as their engines failed because of the flood waters, which have also entered hundreds of houses in the city.

Massive traffic jams were reported from almost all roads with vehicles stranded till late afternoon. Ambulances were stuck for hours with patients facing severe hardship.

As buses were stuck, people had walked to reach their offices. Power cuts were also reported from many areas.

The India Meteorological Department's Regional Meteorological Centre (RMC) in Guwahati predicted thunderstorms and lightning at isolated places over Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram and Tripura.

On the other hand, heavy to very heavy rain is very likely to occur at isolated places over Assam, Meghalaya and Mizoram, it added.

On August 5 too, a spell of heavy rains led to a horrendous situation in the city, leaving people stranded in their vehicles for seven-eight hours till midnight. Children, who had left their schools in the afternoon, were in their school buses till 11 pm.

The Gauhati High Court on August 7 said the time has come to deal with the problem of flooding in the state capital and the government is required to take steps to resolve this problem permanently, asking to submit a plan to mitigate the crisis.

On the other hand, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on August 9 said University of Science and Technology Meghalaya (USTM) was carrying out a "flood jihad", resulting in massive inundation in the state capital several times this month.

Sarma claimed that the varsity is "cutting" all the hills inside its campus to construct new buildings to start a medical college.

The USTM, promoted by Mahbubul Hoque, is located at 9th Mile in the Ri-Bhoi district of Meghalaya on the outskirts of Guwahati.