(From top) People brave rain at Police Bazar in Shillong, floodwaters submerge Dainadubi police station in North Garo Hills and landslide at Gandrak in Tura. Pictures by UB Photos & Saidul Khan

Tura/Shillong, Sept. 22: Twelve persons died in Meghalaya’s Garo hills today in flood and landslides caused by 72 hours of incessant rain. Over three lakh people have been affected across five districts.

Sources said the death toll could rise, as district administration officials were yet to reach the interior areas.

The heavy downpour has disrupted power supply across Garo hills for the past 24 hours. Restoration work is on but it may take hours for power to resume.

Meghalaya chief minister Mukul Sangma cut short his stay in New Delhi and is expected to visit the affected areas tomorrow.

In South West Garo Hills district, seven persons were reported dead — three at Banduraja village near Betasing in landslides, and three at Bolchugre village and one at Chipragoan village, both near Ampati town, in floodwaters. In Ampati and its adjoining areas, the Daru and Dilni rivers were flowing above the danger level. All routes to Ampati town are closed.

Deputy commissioner Ram Singh said several places like Malchapara on the Tura-Ampati road were cut off because of landslides, while others like Katuli, Lukaichar, Teporpara and Gandhipara, located along the India-Bangladesh border, were cut off because of inundation.

“Many low-lying and interior areas are cut off because of inundation. If the rain stops, major roads will be opened by tomorrow,” he said.

The BSF has set up a relief camp at Lukaichar for about 400 villagers. “The district administration has not been able to reach many interior areas because of floods. We have designated a few schools in the highland area of Betasing as relief camps and are distributing rations for the time being. We are making an assessment of the district. Approximately one lakh people have been affected so far,” Singh said.

In North Garo Hills, five people died at Bugakol village near Kharkutta in landslides. Over 100 villages were completely submerged in the Bajengdoba area. The Dainadubi area was also inundated. Officials said many people have taken shelter in a church at Moamari village and on higher ground at Amorpur village.

Soksan bridge, connecting Mendipathar to Resubelpara, was washed away. About 1.20 lakh people are said to be affected in the district. “The army and police are overseeing rescue operations at Bajengdoba,” inspector-general of police (operations) G.H.P. Raju said.

In the plains of West Garo Hills, comprising Phulbari, Rajabala, Tikrikilla and Selsella, over 1.50 lakh people are affected. The worst-hit villages in Phulbari are Shyamnagar, Chibinang and Pushkunipara. The Brahmaputra and its tributary Jinjiram were flowing above the danger level and had breached their embankments at several places in Phulbari and Rajabala.

Deputy commissioner Pravin Bakshi said eight persons had been washed away in Tikrikilla and Chibinang.

The Dadenggre subdivisional headquarters was cut off, with the Ringgi bridge being washed away. The hills and plains of Dadenggre have also been affected.

“Because of continuous rainfall, the rivers are flowing with a very strong current. The damage to roads and bridges is being assessed and efforts are on to restore traffic,” Bakshi said.

“Officials have been deployed to oversee relief and rescue operations. BSF personnel are helping in the operations at Tikrikilla, Chibinang and Garobada. Three companies of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) will arrive in the district tomorrow,” Bakshi said.

BSF deputy commandant, Garo hills sector, Abhimanyu Singh, said, “BSF teams are helping to serve food in the border areas like Lukaichar and Kalaipara. We are coordinating with the district administration to provide shelter to marooned villagers. Around 100 BSF personnel are engaged in rescue operations in Phulbari and the border area of Mahendraganj.”

Meghalaya frontier BSF inspector-general Sudesh Kumar is coordinating with the state government and directing BSF troops in the field to provide succour to the flood-affected people. “Despite poor connectivity in the border areas and flooding of some important border outposts, BSF personnel turned out in large numbers and rescued hundreds of civilians caught in the floods,” a BSF official said.

There were landslides at several places along National Highway 51 that connects Tura to Shillong via Guwahati.

In the district headquarters of Tura, landslides were reported from Chitoktak, Tetengkol, Araimile, Foresttilla, Danakgre, Rongkhon and Rongram localities. However, no casualties were reported.

Food and civil supply minister Clement Marak held a meeting with district deputy commissioner to take stock of the situation in the plain areas, including Selsella and Garobadha.

In South Garo Hills, several localities in Baghmara town as well as the low-lying areas remained inundated. Officials said over 70,000 people were affected. The Simsang was flowing above the danger level. Additional district magistrate Aloysius C. Marak said they were hoping that water would recede as the rain had stopped. He said landslides and floods had occurred in several low-lying areas.

In East Garo Hills, Williamnagar town remained cut off because of heavy landslides at Samanda, Rongjeng, Darugre and Baiza areas. Several localities in the town were submerged. Officials said temporary relief camps had been set up in schools to oversee relief operations.

The chief minister, who was expected to be present during the signing of peace pact between the Centre, ANVC and ANVC (B) on Wednesday in New Delhi, had to cut short his visit.

Sources said Mukul was stranded in Assam as most parts of Garo hills have become inaccessible, affecting transport and communication.

Tura Lok Sabha MP P.A. Sangma, who has sent missives to Union home minister Rajnath Singh, Union minister of state for home Kiren Rijiju and chief minister Mukul Sangma, said the home ministry had confirmed that it would send three companies of NDRF to Garo hills. He said Rijiju had assured him that the personnel would be sent immediately.

In his letter to Singh, the Tura MP said the unprecedented incessant rainfall had adversely affected his constituency, especially the low-lying areas.

Sangma has also requested the home minister to put the BSF, the CRPF and other paramilitary forces on the alert and to provide all assistance to the state government and the district administrations. Sangma urged the Centre to ensure supply of essential commodities to the affected areas.

A red alert has been sounded following predictions of continued rain. The air force has been kept on standby for rescue missions but the inclement weather has stopped air force personnel from taking out any sortie.

Garo hills plunged into darkness after 33kV lines supplying power to Mendipather, Bajengdoba, Williamnagar, Phulbari, Garobadha, Mahendraganj, Baghmara, and Tura developed snags. Power lines were snapped and electrical poles uprooted by high velocity winds accompanied by heavy rains.

The damage to transformers and power lines are extensive in the two circles of Williamnagar and Tura. Officials pegged the damage at Rs 1.5 crore.

In Tura town, power was restored partially this evening and is expected to be restored wholly in the next 24 hours. In several areas of Garo hills, it may take two to four days to restore supply.

The worst hit is North Garo Hills. Four 200kV transformers are submerged in the Bajengdoba region, snapping electricity in the entire region.

The intensity of the storm, which gained momentum last night, was so strong that the force of the wind literally bent a tower line at Bajengdoba region of North Garo Hills.

Officials said efforts were on to get local lines restored.

In neighbouring Assam, five persons were killed in rain-triggered incidents — two in Guwahati, two in Goalpara district and one at Jungle Block in South Salmara-Mancachar subdivision of Dhubri district, prompting chief minister Tarun Gogoi to convene an emergent meeting of senior officials in the state capital this evening.

Gogoi asked the officials to step up rescue and relief efforts. The meeting also decided that State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) personnel would be stationed permanently in the flood-prone areas and two additional companies of the force would be raised.

The worst affected by the gushing waters from Garo hills is Goalpara.

Goalpara deputy commissioner Preetam Saikia told The Telegraph that two persons had died and over one lakh people were affected in 90 villages in the district.

He said NDRF teams had been sent to the district from Guwahati. Two SDRF teams from Dhubri and Barpeta were already in the field. The army had also been called to rescue the marooned.

Dhubri deputy commissioner Kumud Chandra Kalita said an SDRF team had been sent to Goalpara from Dhubri.

Balbala village, 10km from Goalpara town, Kalapani, Chandamari and Fofonga under Agia police station had been affected.

“Many people have taken shelter on rooftops in Krishnai and Paikan areas under Krishnai police station. They have lost all their livestock,” a source said.

Sources said four persons from Balbala, who tried to rescue the marooned, were said to be missing after the countryboat they were using was washed away by heavy current.

BSF jawans have rescued nearly 2,000 people, marooned in Kalapani and Jungle Block under South Salmara-Mancachar subdivision of Dhubri district, since morning.

Train services between Goalpara and Guwahati in Assam, and between Badarpur and Agartala and Teliamura and Jirania in Tripura were disrupted because of floods and landslides today. The trains running between Guwahati and Goalpara have been diverted through Rangia as the railway tracks between Amranga and Dudhnoi in Assam are submerged.

The telephone network is also not functioning properly.

Additional reporting from Bijoy Sharma, Nazmul Hoque and our Guwahati bureau