More than 150 animals, nine of them rare one-horned rhinos, have drowned in floods in Kaziranga National Park in India’s northeastern Assam state, authorities said.
Assam has been grappling with flash floods triggered by heavy rains for the past two months. At least 79 people have died in the floods, which have hit farmlands, residential areas and displaced thousands of people. Seven deaths have been reported since Tuesday (9), according to Assam’s disaster management authority.
Kaziranga National Park, with nearly a third of its campsites flooded, is home to nearly half of the world’s one-horned rhino population, which numbers around 4,000.
India’s meteorological department said on Wednesday (10) that heavy rains are expected to hit northern and northeastern states in the coming days, which could further worsen the situation.
Water levels in nine rivers in Assam are already above dangerous levels, while tributaries of the Brahmaputra river are expected to rise further, according to a state government assessment report.
Several rivers in India’s eastern Bihar state are also close to bursting their banks as water flows downstream from neighboring Nepal, parts of which were also flooded earlier this week.
Source: CNN Brasil
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