northeastern India this month, government officials said on Wednesday. Pramod Gogoi, flood control minister of the tea-growing state of Assam, said deforestation and heavy monsoon rains in the higher reaches of the region had together caused huge mudslides and flooding. "If deforestation continues at the present rate, more landslides are predicted in days to come," he said. The northeastern region has an average rainfall of 2,400 mm between April and October. But the local weather office said it had recorded 1,250 mm of rain in the last two months alone. Every year the mighty Brahmaputra river, swollen by the spring and summer thaw in the Himalayas, ravages large areas in Arunachal Pradesh and Assam, causing extensive damage and disrupting the lives of thousands. The river, and several of its tributaries originating in Tibet, passes through the Himalayas, India`s northeast and Bangladesh before flowing into the Bay of Bengal. The flood control department has constructed more than 4,000 km (2,500 miles) of embankments in Assam to check destruction by floods. "So far there are no reports of any breaking of embankments along the Brahmaputra and its tributaries," Gogoi said. "We are taking care to protect all towns from erosion."