Tripura Floods Death Toll Rises To 20 Amid Catastrophic Monsoon

The death toll from severe floods and landslides in Tripura has reached 20, following the deaths of at least seven more individuals from two families, including three women and a child, due to landslides triggered by relentless rains. This marks the most devastating monsoon flooding in the state in over 30 years, officials confirmed on Thursday.

Disaster Management officials reported that the latest casualties occurred in Santirbazar, South Tripura district, where incessant rainfall late Wednesday night caused landslides that demolished several houses. The Disaster Management Response Force, along with local volunteers, managed to recover all the bodies by Thursday.

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Chief Minister Manik Saha expressed his profound shock at the tragedy and announced that the state government will provide Rs 4 lakh in financial assistance to each affected family.

The current crisis follows earlier reports of 13 deaths, including a 12-year-old girl and a woman, across South Tripura, Gomati, and Khowai districts since Monday. Two additional individuals  still report missing.

As the crisis unfolds, approximately 65,500 people are sheltering in 450 relief camps across all eight districts. The floods have affected around 1.7 million residents statewide since Monday.

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) reported 233 mm of rainfall in Agartala from 8:30 a.m. Wednesday to 8:30 a.m. Thursday. In the last 24 hours, South Tripura’s Bogafa area, under the Santirbazar sub-division, recorded an extraordinary 493.6 mm of rainfall.

The IMD has issued a ‘Red alert’ for all eight districts, forecasting continued ‘heavy’ to ‘very heavy’ rainfall, although the intensity is expected to diminish from Thursday night.