Agartala, Aug 23: With at least seven more persons of two families, including three women and a child, killed in landslides, the toll due to the current rains and floods in Tripura, which witnessed such catastrophic monsoon floods for the first time in over three decades, has risen to 20, officials said on Thursday.

Disaster Management officials said that seven members of two families died at Santirbazar in South Tripura district when their houses collapsed due to a massive landslide triggered by incessant rain late on Wednesday night.

Disaster Management Response Force personnel, along with local people, recovered all the bodies on Thursday.

Expressing his shock at the incident, Chief Minister Manik Saha said that the state government would provide Rs 4 lakh as financial assistance to each affected family.

Earlier 13 deaths, including that of a 12-year-old girl and a woman, were reported from South Tripura, Gomati, and Khowai districts since Monday and two persons were also said to be missing.

An official said that around 65,500 people are taking shelter in 450 relief camps in all eight districts. He said that 17 lakh people were affected in the entire state, which witnessed the devastating floods since Monday.

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) recorded 233 mm rainfall in Agartala from 8.30 a.m. on Wednesday to 8.30 a.m. on Thursday.

According to IMD, all eight districts in Tripura received one of the highest levels of rainfall in the last 24 hours on Thursday with South Tripura district’s Bogafa, under the Santirbazar sub-division, recording 493.6 mm rainfall.

An IMD official said that though a 'heavy’ to ‘very heavy' rainfall alert has been continued and a 'Red alert' sounded in all eight districts, the intensity of rain is likely to reduce from Thursday night.

--IANS

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