Guwahati: Severe flooding in Assam‘s Upper Assam region has left villages devastated, families separated and hundreds of thousands of people displaced, while residents and experts have raised questions over whether human activity worsened the scale of the disaster.
The flooding between July 18 and 20 was particularly severe in Sivasagar district, where the Dikhow River surged after heavy rainfall in the neighbouring Naga Hills of Nagaland.
Families swept away by surging waters
For 37-year-old daily wage worker Debiram Panika, the disaster brought an unbearable loss. His wife Dipika and four-year-old daughter Radhika were swept away when floodwaters entered their bamboo-and-mud home.
Panika was speaking to his wife on a video call when she told him they were going to die. The call then disconnected.
Radhika’s body has still not been found. Panika’s 10-year-old daughter Ridhika survived after holding on to a bamboo bush and was rescued by locals.
The floods reportedly killed more than 100 people, destroyed around 2,700 villages and displaced about 7 lakh people across Assam. The state government said around 12 lakh people were affected.
Villages buried under debris
Several riverine villages in Sivasagar were hit by enormous quantities of debris carried downstream from the Naga Hills.
Residents described the flooding as unprecedented in its intensity. Trees reportedly fell into the rivers and were carried towards villages, destroying homes and agricultural land.
Local volunteers also played a major role in rescue operations. Villagers Kukil Das and Shravan Prasad said they used seven boats to rescue people for two days and nights.
In Nepali Khuti, resident Laxmi Sharma reportedly sheltered around 60 people on the terrace of her concrete house after floodwaters entered the village.
Questions over mining and deforestation
Residents and some experts have questioned whether the disaster was entirely natural.
They have pointed to stone and sand mining, deforestation and coal extraction in areas of Nagaland bordering Assam as factors that may have worsened the flooding.
Data cited in the report shows Nagaland lost around 14% of its tree cover between 2002 and 2025, while the Forest Survey of India reported a loss of about 794.88 sq km of forest cover between 2013 and 2023.
Satellite imagery and observations along the Assam-Nagaland border also reportedly showed signs of mining and deforestation.
Government and experts differ
Mon district Deputy Commissioner Wennyei Konyak acknowledged the possibility of illegal mining but rejected the suggestion that mining was responsible for the floods, describing the disaster as the result of nature’s fury.
Assam opposition leader Debabrata Saikia, however, alleged that unchecked excavation of stone and sand along the Dikhow riverbank had worsened the situation.
Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma attributed the flooding to excessive rainfall in Nagaland, while minister Ranoj Pegu pointed to erratic rainfall linked to climate change.
Brahmaputra basin researcher Mirza Zulfiqur Rahman argued that human activity had significantly altered the landscape, reducing the river’s ability to withstand extreme flows.
The disaster has therefore renewed concerns about how climate change, deforestation and mining can interact with natural flooding to magnify its impact on vulnerable communities.