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The river, one of Asia’s largest that originates in China’s
Tibet region and flows about 900 kilometers (560 miles) through
Assam, flooded villages, swept away homes and forced nearly
300,000 people into government-run relief camps, officials said.
Authorities provided food and relief supplies to flood victims
including airdrops from helicopters, Assam Chief Minister
Himanta Biswa Sarma said.
Nearly 900 villages were submerged and more than 7,000 homes
were without electricity, he said.
Police, disaster response teams and local volunteers were
working to rescue stranded residents and deliver essential
supplies to flood-hit communities, officials said.
Jatin Gogoi, a 52-year-old farmer from Nazira, said the rising
waters swept away his bamboo-walled home and destroyed his
livelihood.
“I lost all my cattle. My five-member family and I have nowhere
to go, so we are taking shelter in a relative’s home,” he said
over the phone.
Flooding on Thursday evening disrupted parts of Guwahati,
Assam’s capital with about 2 million residents, as submerged
roads left commuters stranded for hours.
“I had to stay overnight at my office. The roads were filled
with water, some waist deep,” said Sudip Mazumdar, a journalist
in Guwahati.
Experts say human-caused climate change is intensifying South
Asia’s monsoons, which traditionally run from June to September
and again from October to December. The rains, once predictable,
now arrive in erratic bursts that dump extreme amounts of water
in short periods, followed by dry spells.
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