By More than 100 people have died in Assam’s ongoing floods, with 700,000 displaced and 1.2 million impacted overall as the toll continues to rise.
Around 2,700 villages have been destroyed, with Sivasagar district in upper Assam among the worst affected, along with Mon district across the border in Nagaland.
The floods followed heavy rainfall in the Naga Hills between July 18 and 20, triggering sudden surges in tributaries that feed into Assam’s low-lying regions.
A local vlogger recounted the scale of the destruction, describing trees 30 to 40 metres tall coming down from the hills and homes being completely destroyed, calling it “a tsunami.”
Government officials point to excessive rainfall and climate change as the primary causes, while opposition legislators and researchers say unregulated mining along riverbeds has worsened the disaster.
One tragic account involves two friends from different faiths who died together, after a Hindu man drowned attempting to rescue a Muslim woman swept up in the floodwaters.
Government officials have attributed the scale of the disaster primarily to unusually intense rainfall and climate change, while opposition legislators have pushed back, blaming unregulated mining operations.
The Brahmaputra river’s heavy sediment load steadily weakens embankments over time, and nearly 40 percent of Assam’s total land area is considered vulnerable to flooding in a typical monsoon season.
Assam floods almost every year during the monsoon, but this year’s disaster was unusual in that floodwaters from cloudburst-driven tributary surges arrived before the Brahmaputra itself reached peak levels, catching low-lying areas off guard.
The worst-hit districts include Sivasagar, Charaideo, Jorhat and Golaghat in upper Assam, along with Mon district across the border in neighbouring Nagaland.
Researchers point to unrestrained stone mining along riverbeds such as the Dikhow as a contributing factor, arguing it has stripped away the natural cushioning that once absorbed flood surges.
Photo by EU Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0
