PART 1: SITUATION REPORT:
The 2,906-km long Brahmaputra is one of Asia's largest rivers. For its first 1,625 km it traverses through Tibet, the next 918 km in India, and the remaining 363 km through Bangladesh before reaching the Bay of Bengal. Every year the floods in Assam leave a trail of destruction, washing away villages, submerging paddy fields, drowning livestock and causing loss of human life and property. In 2004, more than 200 people were killed in floods in Assam - the worst flooding in recent years.
In July 2009, flash floods triggered by heavy monsoon rains in Assam have displaced an estimated 200,000 people in the past two days with the state government sounding an alert as more than 300 villages were inundated. "Four districts of Lakhimpur, Dhemaji, Jorhat and Nagaon were hit by the current wave of flooding that has left about 200,000 people displaced in some 350-odd villages during the past two days," said Assam Revenue and Rehabilitation Minister Bhumidhar Barman.
