India Floods Death Toll Nears 100 As Assam Battles One Of Its Worst Deluges In Years

Flooding across India’s northeastern region has claimed nearly 100 lives, with villages buried under mud and thousands of residents displaced following one of Assam’s worst flood disasters in recent years, according to updated official figures released on Friday.

Authorities said at least 97 people have died in Assam, while nearly 170,000 residents have been affected by the disaster. Thousands of families have been forced to leave their homes and seek refuge in temporary relief camps as overflowing rivers continue to inundate communities and farmland.

The floods have also submerged more than 14,000 hectares of agricultural land, covering an area estimated to be almost one and a half times the size of Paris.

An AFP journalist who visited Sivasagar, one of the worst-hit districts, reported scenes of widespread devastation, with homes partially submerged, trees uprooted, and vehicles trapped beneath thick layers of mud.

Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma shared a heartbreaking video on Friday showing him comforting the parents of a 13-year-old boy who lost his life while attempting to rescue his pet dog from the floodwaters.

“No parent should ever have to bid farewell to their child,” he wrote.

India’s Health Minister J.P. Nadda, who toured the affected areas on Thursday, described the destruction as overwhelming and warned that recovery would take considerable time.

“The scale of the devastation is so huge that it will take time” for normal life to resume, he said.

“Village after village has been submerged,” he told reporters.

Flooding is a recurring challenge in Assam during the June-to-September monsoon season, as the Brahmaputra River, India’s largest river, and its numerous tributaries frequently overflow after heavy rainfall.

However, experts have warned that the disasters are becoming increasingly severe due to the combined effects of climate change and poorly planned urban and environmental development.

Residents and local officials have also blamed illegal coal mining in neighbouring Nagaland, arguing that mining activities have worsened flooding in areas that were not previously considered flood-prone.

Chief Minister Sarma said he intends to raise the matter with the Federal Government in New Delhi.

Climate advocacy organisation Climate Trends noted that the worsening flood situation in Assam reflects a combination of environmental and human factors.

According to the group, the increasing severity of floods is “driven by the interaction of global warming, changing river dynamics and growing human exposure, making them more frequent, more complex and more costly.”