Flood and landslides triggered by heavy rainfall in Assam have led to the death of eight people over the past 48 hours and snapped rail link to South Assam, Mizoram, Manipur and Tripura because of “unprecedented” damage caused by landslip and waterlogging on the Lumding-Badarpur hill section since Saturday.

The Assam State Disaster Management Authority (ASDMA) said on Tuesday that the death toll had gone up to eight and the number of affected districts had increased to 26, affecting a population of 4.3 lakh.

Landslides killed four people in Dima Hasao and one in Lakhimpur while two flood-related deaths were reported from Cachar district and one from Udalgiri.

Six people were reported “lost/missing” from Cachar district.

Five people also died in Itanagar, the capital of Arunachal Pradesh, since Sunday due to heavy rainfall. Landslides were also reported on Tuesday. The Barak and Kopili rivers were flowing above the danger level at Karimganj district and Kampur in Nagaon district, respectively.

The India Meteorological Department had on Friday warned of heavy rainfall with thunderstorm in most parts of the Northeast. There is no respite in sight with the Regional Weather Forecasting Centre in Guwahati predicting rain in the region till May 21.

The Assam government on Tuesday held an emergency meeting in Guwahati on the flood and landslide situation with special focus on Dima Hasao, Hojai and Barak Valley districts. Representatives of the army, the Indian Air Force, National Disaster Response Force, State Disaster Response Force, the railways, oil and power companies, telecom, the Food Corporation of India and senior government officials attended the meeting. The army joined the evacuation operation in Hojai in central Assam where around 5,000 people are marooned.

“It is an emergency-like situation in Dima Hasao district since both road and railway links have snapped. Even mobile network has been severely affected. There is limited supply of essentials,” chief secretary Jishnu Barua said after the meeting where the focus was on maintaining supply lines for essential items and opening of railway and road routes as soon as possible.

The army, IAF, the railways, NDRF, district administration, police and the ASDMA are conducting evacuation and relief operations.

Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, who is on an official trip to Bangalore, tweeted on Tuesday: “In view of massive landslide in Meghalaya, movements of passengers & heavy vehicles carrying goods have been severely affected in the Barak Valley. I have requested Hon CM Shri @SangmaConrad to kindly intervene and extend help. He has assured all possible cooperation.”

Cachar deputy commissioner Jalli Keerti said efforts were on to contain the damage caused by the first wave of flood in the district that has left 45,000 affected. Landslides at different locations have cut the connectivity of Barak Valley with the rest of the world.

Chief public relations officer of Northeast Frontier Railway, Sabyasachi De, said the damage to the routes in Dima Hasao had been “unprecedented” and at least 10 stations on the route remained cut off, snapping train connectivity to South Assam, Manipur, Mizoram and Tripura.

“Over 28 trains till May 24 have been either cancelled, partially cancelled, short-terminated or short-originated in the hill section. Restoration work started on Saturday but heavy rain and landslides are still taking place in Dima Hasao. Fresh damage is also being reported,” De told The Telegraph.

An ASDMA official admitted it would take some time to restore the rail link.

On Sunday, an IAF chopper was pressed into service to evacuate 119 stranded rail passengers from Ditokchera (Dima Hasao) to Silchar in Cachar district in South Assam. Around 2,300 stranded passengers were also evacuated through trains.

On Tuesday, an IAF chopper evacuated 13 persons from Dima Hasao.

A resident of Haflong in Dima Hassao told The Telegraph that the district had never witnessed such devastation before and it would take some time for normal life to resume.

An official said they had food supply for about four days and it would be a challenge to maintain supplies because landslides had disrupted all routes to the district headquarters.