‘We feared we’d all be drowned’: the Indian floods that killed more than 100 and left thousands homeless
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- Assam floods killed at least 101 people as of August 11, affecting more than 1 million residents across 2,690 villages in 25 districts, with officials warning the toll will likely rise
- Gitali Phukon described the Mitong River overflowing Gaurisagar in under an hour, with water reaching waist level and contaminating groundwater wells, forcing neighbors to share her stored water and survive on biscuits and puffed rice for three days
- Partha Jyoti Das, a water and climate hazards specialist at Aaranyak, attributed the severity to heavier rainfall from the climate crisis combined with deforestation, legal and illegal mining, and large-scale landscape alteration in Nagaland's hills
- Himadrijyoti Dutta of farmer non-profit Krishak Nyas said 95% of farmland across Sivasagar district has been ruined, wiping out farmers' financial investments and leaving them desperate
- Kalyan Das, a geography professor at Cotton University, warned the disaster will accelerate out-migration from Assam, where employment-driven migration already rose from 16.3% in 1991 to 24.4% by 2011, driven primarily by floods and soil erosion
- Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma claimed "the situation was under control" and told the public not to raise money for flood victims, prompting singer Nilotpal Bora's viral response that 3,000 more would have died without local charities
- One Northeast Motorcycle Club founder Chow Sureng Rajkonwar said hundreds are now homeless and living in tents made of plastic sheets and tarpaulins on roads or higher ground
Why it matters: The article makes clear this is a compounding crisis, not a routine monsoon event: climate-driven heavier rainfall meets decades of deforestation and mining to destroy farmland and livelihoods. With 95% of Sivasagar's farmland ruined and out-migration already rising from 16.3% to 24.4%, the 1 million+ affected residents face recovery measured in years while local biker clubs and individual donors shoulder relief the state government hasn't.
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