Tragedy has repeated itself in Assam. Once again, Assam is swamped. After ceaseless downfall across several parts of the state swamped villages, towns, and farmlands. The India Meteorological Department has issued a “ red alert ” and prognosticated “ very heavy ” to “ extremely heavy ” downfall across the state. IMD’s indigenous meteorological center in Guwhati has also issued a “ Red Alert ” prediction with “ extremely heavy downfall over Lower Assam sections of Kokrajhar, Chirang, Baksa, Barpeta and Bongaigaon. The Assam State Disaster Management Authority remarked further than 34,000 people are hit due by floods in Cachar, Darrang, hemaji, and Lakhmipur. Lakhmipur is the worst hit with over 25,000 people affected. The administration is presently operating a “one-relief camp ” 16 relief distributional centers in 3 sections are also operating. The heavy downfall in Assam has caused land erosion, landslides, and infrastructural damage. The situation in Assam is critical.
At present, however, signs of improvement have been recorded as the number of affected people has been recorded as 2.70 lahks. Union Home Minister- Amit Shah tweeted “ Due to heavy rain, the people in parts of Assam are braving a flood tide-like situation. I’ve spoken to CM Shri@himantabiswa Ji and assured all possible backing. He assured NDRF National Disaster Response Force( NDRF) will aid Assam in the grim situation. Replying to Shah’s tweet, the CM assured the Assam government is on high alert and providing the needed backing.
In addition to Assam’s flood-affected region, prices of vegetables in Guwhati have soared adding to the woes of the affected Assamese. In Assam’s flood tide-affected region over 10,000 hectares of land has been submerged under water. The flood tide has disintegrated the supply chain further adding the prices of the vegetables.
The misery of the flood tide isn’t new to Assam. In 2022, Assam’s Silchar was swamped on June 19th and affecting the lives of 5.4 million people across 32 sections with the death risk brimming up to 200. In 2021, September, the lives of over 5 lakh people were affected due to the flood tide. With the statistics we infer Assam floods every time but why is Assam prone to floods? At the crux is the particularity of the river Bramhaputra-dynamic and unstable. It spreads over four countries China, India, Bangladesh, and Bhutan with several surroundings. The vast amount of deposition comes from Tibet where the river originates that region is called arid and lacks plantations. The melting of glaciers and soil erosion result in a largely sedimented river. By the time the river enters Assam- a state primarily comprising floodplains and girdled by hills, it deposits a vast amount of silt leading to erosion and floods as the swash comes from a high slope to a flat plane its velocity decreases suddenly resulting in disburdening the sediments of the river. The river channels prove inadequate amid this siltation leading to floods. Again, due to the earthquake-prone nature of the region, Brahmaputra continues to be unstable. Following the ruinous earthquake of 1950, the level of Bramhaputra rose by two meters in the Dibrugarh area in Eastern Assam. Man-made factors such as habitation, deforestation, and population growth lead to higher sedimentation.
