The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has issued a red alert for Arunachal Pradesh, Assam and Meghalaya for the next two days as extremely heavy rainfall has been predicted in these states since the monsoon has covered the entire northeastern region.
Rain-induced disasters have killed at least 43 people across three states -- Arunachal Pradesh, Assam and Meghalaya -- since May this year. Floods in Assam alone claimed the lives of 27 of them.
In Meghalaya, a video of a bridge being washed away in amid incessant rainfall that has led to flooding has gone viral on social media.
The bridge over the Bugi river connected Jijika to Megua in the South Garo Hills region. Bugi is said to be the third-biggest river in Garo Hills.
Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad Sangma, who has deemed the situation as "serious", will be visiting the flood affected areas of Garo hills today.
Four people, including three minors, died in two different incidents of landslides in the Garo Hills region of Meghalaya early Thursday morning.
The Assam State Disaster Management Authority (ASDMA) has also issued an alert in landslide and flood-prone areas after long hours of incessant rainfall across the state on Thursday, which affected surface communication temporarily.
In its special weather bulletin on Thursday, the IMD stated that an east-west trough is running from southeast Uttar Pradesh to Manipur across Bihar, sub-Himalayan West Bengal and Assam and Meghalaya at 0.9 km above the mean sea level.
A red alert from the IMD is a warning for disaster management agencies to be prepared to take action to prevent possible eventualities due to excess rainfall.
