DIMAPUR: Houses continue to remain submerged under water

More rainfall expected in the coming days  

Morung Express News 
Dimapur | June 16 

With Nagaland set to experience more rainfall in the coming days beginning from June 16 up to June 24, apprehension prevails for the citizens of Dimapur who reside at flood prone areas. According to the Nagaland State Disaster Management Authority’s (NSDMA) statement on Thursday, heavy rainfall is very likely to occur in certain pockets in the districts of Peren, Dimapur, Kohima, Wokha, Zunheboto, Mokokchung, Mon and Longleng during this period.   

In localities where flood had devastated several houses on June 11, water levels have still not subsided as on June 16.  At Vilhume colony, many houses remained partially submerged underwater as rain continued to pummel Dimapur relentlessly while their occupants were nowhere to be seen. 

In this regard, Dimapur Municipal Council (DMC) Administrator, Manpai Phom told The Morung Express on Friday that they were doing their best to provide temporary relief measures to the affected people. He mentioned that along with Deputy Commissioner of Dimapur and NSDMA, they have been in the process of physically surveying the areas prone to flooding. 

The most vulnerable areas have been identified as those lying within the periphery of the District Hospital nullah and the Lengrijan nullah including at Burma and Supermarket. 

The DMC administrator stated that they had actually initiated the exercise of clearing the clogged drains almost a month ago. However, as the work could only be carried out through the help of manual labour, they were not able to complete it before the onset of rain. 

He nonetheless added that the process of clearing the drains will continue. “But this is just a temporary relief measure.” 
The bigger task at hand will be to build better drainage system and improve garbage collection. On this note, he revealed that the DMC has been making to plans to roll out smaller mobile vehicles for garbage collection. This was due to the fact that the current line of large trucks was unable to penetrate to all the areas under its jurisdiction. 

Waste segregation at the collection point was another area which needed to encouraged, he noted. Other aspects include, collection of data needed to keep track of the number of households. 

“Change is only possible when both the public and the government work hand-in-hand to resolve all these issue,” he viewed. For now, the issue of flooding will continue to persist for the foreseeable future in Dimapur.