Shrihan
Amount : ₹5001
The people of Assam have lived with floods for centuries, but they have never been as surprised by its timing, intensity, and extent as they are now. The recent flooding of the riverine island of Majuli and the three waves of floods already in 2024 are testimonies to the changing character of flooding in the riparian state over the past 50 years, especially along the Brahmaputra river.
“The flooding in Majuli was sudden and occurred due to the combined impact of the rising water of the Brahmaputra river and the gushing water from its tributary, the Subansiri,” Partha Jyoti Das, head of climate and water hazards at non-profit Aaranyak, told Down To Earth.
Such flash flooding is more dangerous for people in the impacted area than a normal flood and is new for many of these areas, according to Das.
The flash flooding in the Subansiri was because of heavy rainfall in Arunachal Pradesh, from where the river flows steeply into Assam, Das explained. This added to already rising water levels in the Brahmaputra. The volume of water was such that a well-built and maintained embankment in the western part of Majuli breached at its weakest point.
There has not been a lot of flooding in Majuli for the past 4-5 years, so people were caught off-guard. “People may have had a false sense of security about the strength of the embankment. Also, the fact that it is normal for the water levels in both the Brahmaputra and the Subansiri to increase and decrease throughout the monsoon season,” said Das.
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