Many villagers are reported to have been without food or medicine for nearly a week. The threat of disease is a major concern now, with children and the elderly particularly vulnerable. Malaria and diarrhoea spread easily when large areas are submerged by dirty water. Tube wells have been provided, but local people complain the water quality is poor. She said hundreds of children and elderly people were suffering from waterborne diseases.
Aid workers say get food and material aid to the affected people has to be the priority.
The International Red Cross says it will launch an appeal for funds on Friday. With homes and farmland devastated, rebuilding the region's infrastructure is likely to be a long, slow process. About 3,000 villages have been flooded in Assam alone, and the damage has been made worse because of the simple, basic structure of many houses.