Tezpur/Nagaon, Aug. 14: The flood situation in central Assam continued to be alarming for the second day today with most of the low-lying areas remaining submerged.

Nagaon, Morigaon, Sonitpur and Biswanath districts are experiencing the worst floods in over 36 years with the Brahmaputra submerging more places since yesterday.

Altogether 22.49 lakh people in the state have been affected by the current wave of floods, the Assam State Disaster Management Authority reported today.

Torrential rain in neighbouring hill state, Arunachal Pradesh, over the past four days has raised the Brahmaputra's water level, leading to breach of the 46-year-old Hatimura dyke in Assam's Nagaon district yesterday and causing the worst flood the district's Koliabor subdivision has ever experienced.

Nagaon deputy commissioner Shamsher Singh today assessed the flood situation in Koliabor and deemed it fit for smaller vehicles to ply. Thereafter, the administration opened National Highway 37, which was closed since yesterday after floodwaters flowed over it at Jakhalabandha, to small vehicles. Singh said the situation was improving as the water level was receding.

Opening of NH 37, which runs from Goalpara in lower Assam to Saikhowa Ghat in Upper Assam's Tinsukia district, restored connectivity to Upper Assam as well as the adjoining states of Manipur, Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh after 24 hours.

However, National Highway 15, which runs from Baihata in Kamrup district to Wakro in Arunachal Pradesh, had to be closed after water submerged it at three places in Gohpur subdivision of Biswanath district. One person died in Gohpur yesterday.

Several villages in the Sipajhar area of adjoining Darrang district were also affected. Altogether 147 villages under eight revenue circles in Sonitpur and Biswanath districts on the north bank of the Brahmaputra have been affected. Dispur has opened 678 relief camps in 16 badly affected districts of the state.

The Brahmaputra was flowing above its danger level at Ganesh Ghat in Tezpur, the headquarters of Sonitpur district, this morning.

Kulen Bhorali, a resident of Kalibari area in Sonitpur district, said Tezpur, one of the high altitude towns of Assam, and its adjoining areas such as Gohpur and Kalibari, were experiencing the worst floods since 1980.

Sonitpur deputy commissioner Manoj Kumar Deka said, "The Brahmaputra and its tributaries had crossed their danger level but the water level is receding since yesterday." He said only one flood-related death, that of Haren Samah, 75, of Madhav Barhampur in Nadaur circle, has been reported in the district so far. The administration has provided an ex gratia of Rs 4 lakh to his family. He said a search is still on to trace Jamila Khatun who went missing from Dhekiajuli yesterday.

In Nagaon town, the Kalang, a tributary of the Brahmaputra, was flowing above its danger level. Some low-lying areas of the town were inundated this evening. At Juria near Nagaon, a wild boar, which strayed from a neighbouring forest, attacked villagers this morning, injuring four.

In adjoining Morigaon district, 70 per cent of which is flooded, the situation remained unchanged.

The flood situation remained critical in Dhubri district of lower Assam as well.

In Majuli district of Upper Assam, the Brahmaputra was flowing 1.32m above its danger level. Over 78,500 people in 79 villages have been affected and 10,875 hectares of cropland have been damaged. "We have set up two medical camps and seven relief camps in the district," deputy commissioner Pallav Gopal Jha said.

In Jorhat district of Upper Assam, over 7,000 villagers in 40 villages under Teok and East Jorhat revenue circles have been affected by the current wave of floods.

In Arunachal Pradesh, large areas are inundated in remote Anjaw district, disrupting road communication. The main road connecting Anjaw through Lohit district remains blocked since August 8 because of landslides. Anjaw's Chaglongam circle is cut off from the rest of the district since August 10.

The army's Gajraj Corps continued relief work at Purabheti and Jakhalabandha in Nagaon as well as in some districts of lower Assam today. The army vehicles also helped the civil administration to transport relief materials to camps, defence spokesperson Lt Col Suneet Newton said.

All Assam Students' Union (AASU) general secretary Lurinjyoti Gogoi, who visited flood-affected Kaliabor subdivision today, alleged that flood-affected people were living by the way side and on elevated land and were not provided relief by the district administration.

"The flood-affected people are being helped by various organisations but not the district administration. The state government has been claiming that it has enough money. We demand the government to expedite its relief operations," he said, adding that Prime Minister Narendra Modi should visit the state now to see the real havoc of floods.

The AIUDF today appealed to Union minister for women and child development Maneka Gandhi to set up Swadhar Greh centres for families in Dhubri and Barpeta districts affected by erosion. Swadhar Greh is a central scheme for women facing difficult circumstances.

The AIUDF today submitted a memorandum to Maneka signed by three of its MPs - Badruddin Ajmal, Radheshyam Biswas and Sirajuddin Ajmal, which said: "The ministry of women and child development has provision for Swadhar Greh for calamity victims. At least 200 villages have been affected in Dhubi and Barpeta districts by erosion and floods. We request you to grant at least 10 Swadhar Greh in Dhubri and Barpeta districts."

The AIUDF said over 5,000 square km of farmland in Assam has been eroded in the past 67 years and nearly 2 million people lost land and property.

Additional reporting by Devajit Baruah in Jorhat