A risky boat trip through flood waters and a few miles of walking through flooded paddy fields led to the fringes of Hatigarh in Assam’s Nagaon district, which is one of the worst-affected in the state. An overflowing Kopili river has completely submerged the area. As well as water released by the Barapani dam in Meghalaya.
Hundreds of residents had been stranded for only two days as the extra water submerged town after village. Lilabati Das, 41, can’t stop crying as she looks around her house. Her mud cabin has already been submerged by flood waters, which are currently waist-deep and rising by the hour.
Her family of seven has been stranded, and their 10 bighas of farmland have been ruined. The money from these lands would have supported the family for a year and brought in at least one lakh rupees. But now there’s nothing left.
The government’s job in Assam amid rising flood waters is to speed up rescue and relief operations, but for hundreds of families like Lilabati’s, every flood is a survival challenge. Many people are without cropland, grains, money, and even a country boat to get to safer locations this time around; all they are waiting for is government help to come.
Post Your Comments