Assam’s flood death toll was reported at 68 on Monday, July 27, with the ASDMA reporting no new fatalities in the preceding 24 hours. The authority’s bulletin counted 4,45,495 people still affected across six districts, Sivasagar, Golaghat, Charaideo, Jorhat, Nagaon and Kamrup (Metropolitan), down from Sunday’s 5.24 lakh across five districts, after two deaths in Charaideo had taken the toll to 68.
Charaideo remained the epicentre, with 1,88,404 people still affected, ahead of Sivasagar’s 1,44,461 and Jorhat’s 74,458. Ninety relief camps and 94 distribution centres sheltered 28,695 displaced residents, while the Dhansiri (S) river had crossed the danger level at Numaligarh in Golaghat. The NDRF, SDRF and civil defence had 67 boats deployed, more than 37,000 hectares of cropland lay submerged, close to 27,000 animals had been swept away, and houses, roads and infrastructure had also suffered damage.
Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said the government’s focus had turned to restoration and rehabilitation, with power being restored in stages after safety checks in five districts, schools and infrastructure to be repaired on priority, and essential goods air-dropped where roads had been cut off. “We remain committed to restoring essential services at the earliest and ensuring every affected community returns to normalcy,” he said.
Union minister Sarbananda Sonowal called the situation “very serious” and said Prime Minister Narendra Modi had checked in with Sarma and pledged full support. “The Prime Minister called me this morning and inquired about the situation. He said, ‘Tell the people of Assam that we stand with them and are ready to provide any assistance,’“ Sonowal said, adding that an inter-ministerial team had reached the state.
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi voiced solidarity with those affected and pressed both governments for immediate relief and compensation for every life, home and livelihood lost. Pointing to the BJP’s 2016 Assam Vision Document, Kharge asked what had become of its decade-old pledge to end the state’s flooding for good. “Ten years of BJP rule have now passed. What happened to those solemn promises?” he said. Gandhi added, “It is expected that the Central and state governments will leave no stone unturned in providing relief and rescue to the affected people.”
Minister Pijush Hazarika had earlier called this year’s floods the state’s “worst in six decades.” Over the four weeks to July 27, 58 of the 68 deaths came in the final week alone, with around 40 people still missing. On July 21 alone, 21 people died within 24 hours, most swept away or drowned, while others were killed in landslides and house collapses.
In Jorhat’s Seleng Sumoni Pathar village, 18-year-old Saline Patro got her parents and younger brother to higher ground on July 19 after water rushed into their home, then went back for their belongings, only to find the house gone. “We had a television, a cupboard and a sofa. Nothing was left,” she told BBC Hindi. “The floods took everything from us.”
In Sivasagar’s Holang Katoni village, Rekhamoni Gogoi and her seven-year-old son climbed a mango tree around 8 pm on July 19 as water in a neighbour’s house, where they had first sheltered, kept rising, and spent the night on its branches without food or water. “There was darkness all around us. There seemed to be no hope of survival, but I refused to lose courage,” she said. Both were rescued the next morning.
Nagaland’s Mon district saw landslides at more than ten locations on the morning of July 19, following a cloudburst. Officials gave differing counts of the dead: NSDMA joint chief executive officer Johnny Ruangmei put the confirmed toll at nine, with five injured, while Mon deputy commissioner Wennyei Konyak said eight had died at a single site, where four bodies had been retrieved by July 20. The state announced ex-gratia of Rs 4 lakh per deceased and Rs 74,000 per injured. A resident near the site said, “There is no electricity, the mobile network is very unstable, and roads are blocked because of landslides.”
In Jammu and Kashmir, early reports on July 20 put the toll from rain-related incidents in Poonch, Rajouri and Doda at around 15. This climbed to 21 after a landslide killed seven at Domail Dhok Nandichool in Poonch’s Loran area late on July 19, and three more died in shooting-stone incidents in Doda. Chief Minister Omar Abdullah announced Rs 6 lakh in ex-gratia per death in Rajouri and Poonch and said power restoration in Poonch was “progressing on a war footing.”
In Himachal Pradesh’s Lahaul-Spiti district, falling rocks hit a vehicle travelling from Kullu to Pangi on the Sansari-Kilad-Thirot-Tandi road near Kadhu Nala on July 24, killing 13 people on the spot, eight men, five women and an infant, and injuring two others. MLA Janak Raj said 11 of the dead were from his constituency. The state had 121 roads shut at the time, with 19 major landslides, 11 flash floods and six cloudbursts recorded since the monsoon began.
