Incessant rain creates flooding in several parts of Assam; nearly 33,500 people hit
Guwahati (PTI): The flood condition in Assam remained grim on Monday with overnight heavy rainfall across several parts of the state, inundating villages, towns and farmlands.
The India Meteorological Department has issued a 'Red Alert' and predicted 'very heavy' to 'extremely heavy' rainfall across several districts of Assam till Thursday.
IMD's Regional Meteorological Centre (RMC) in Guwahati has issued a 'Red Alert' with prediction of "Heavy (7-11 cm in 24 hours) to Very Heavy (11-20 cm in 24 hours) with extremely heavy rainfall (over 20 cm in 24 hours)" over Lower Assam districts of Kokrajhar, Chirang, Baksa, Barpeta and Bongaigaon.
During the same period, "heavy to very heavy" rainfall is very likely over Dhubri, Kamrup, Kamrup Metropolitan, Nalbari, Dima Hasao, Cachar, Goalpara and Karimganj districts, it added.
The RMC has issued an 'Orange Alert' for Tuesday, followed by a 'Yellow Alert' for the subsequent two days.
'Red Alert' signifies taking immediate action, while 'Orange Alert' implies to be prepared for action and 'Yellow Alert' stands for watch and be updated.
According to the daily flood report of the Assam State Disaster Management Authority (ASDMA), more than 33,400 people are hit due to floods in Cachar, Darrang, Dhemaji, Dibrugarh, Golaghat, Hojai, Lakhimpur, Nagaon, Nalbari, Sonitpur, Tinsukia and Udalguri districts.
Lakhimpur is the worst hit with over 25,200 people affected, followed by Dibrugarh with more than 3,800 people and Tinsukia with almost 2,700 persons, it added.
The administration has been operating one relief camp, where nine people are taking shelter, besides running 16 relief distribution centres in three districts.
At present, 142 villages are under water and 1,510.98 hectares of crop areas have been damaged across Assam, ASDMA said.
Massive erosions have been witnessed in Biswanath, Bongaigaon, Dibrugarh, Kokrajhar, Lakhimpur, Majuli, Morigaon, Nagaon, Sivasagar, Sonitpur, South Salmara and Udalguri districts, it added.
Places in Dima Hasao and Karimganj have reported incidents of landslides due to heavy rainfall.
Embankments, roads, bridges and other infrastructure have been damaged by flood waters in Sonitpur, Lakhimpur, Cachar, Dhemaji, Goalpara, Nagaon, Udalguri, Chirang, Dibrugarh, Kamrup, Karbi Anglong, Karimganj, Bongaigaon, Majuli, Morigaon, Sivasagar and South Salmara districts.
The Brahmaputra at Neamatighat, while its tributaries Puthimari at NH Road Crossing and Kopili at Kampur are flowing above the danger marks, the report said.
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I like both sides of argument on H-1B; want competent people coming into US: Donald Trump
Washington (PTI): US President Donald Trump said he likes both sides of the argument on H-1B foreign guest workers' visa, noting that he likes "very competent people" coming into the country and that he has used the programme.
"I like both sides of the argument, but I also like very competent people coming into our country, even if that involves them training and helping other people that may not have the qualifications they do. But I don't want to stop -- and I'm not just talking about engineers, I'm talking about people at all levels," Trump told reporters at the White House during a joint news conference with Oracle CTO Larry Ellison, Softbank CEO Masayoshi Son, and Open AI CEO Sam Altman.
The president was responding to a question on the ongoing debate on H-1B visa within his support base.
While his close confidants like Elon Musk, the Tesla owner, supports H-1B visa as it brings in qualified tech professionals, many of his supporters oppose it arguing that it takes away jobs from Americans.
"We want competent people coming into our country. And H-1B, I know the programme very well. I use the programme. Maître d', wine experts, even waiters, high-quality waiters -- you've got to get the best people. People like Larry, he needs engineers, Masa also needs... they need engineers like nobody's ever needed them," Trump said.
"So, we have to have quality people coming in. Now by doing that, we're expanding businesses and that takes care of everybody. So I'm sort of on both sides of the argument, but what I really do feel is that we have to let really competent people, great people, come into our country. And we do that through the H-1B programme," Trump added.
