The Northeast has faced annual floods and landslides for decades, yet systemic policy reform remains elusive. Experts point to a pattern: short-term relief, photo-op rescues, and reconstruction — only to repeat the cycle.
GUWAHATI, INDIA —As swollen rivers swallow villages and hillsides collapse into deadly cascades, the story unfolding across India’s Northeast is tragically familiar — a seasonal script of devastation now deepened by policy paralysis, rapid urbanization, and climate volatility. With at least 46 lives lost and more than half a million people affected, this year’s deluge has once again laid bare the region’s extreme vulnerability — and the cost of failing to plan beyond disaster response.
This time, however, the stakes may be higher than ever, with regional stability, climate security, and cross-border hydropolitics threatening to turn floods into flashpoints far beyond the local map.
RELEVANT SUSTAINABLE GOALS
A Region Submerged: Assam Bears the Brunt
Of all affected states, Assam has emerged as ground zero. Floodwaters engulfed 1,494 villages across 21 districts, including the state capital Guwahati, where entire neighborhoods remained underwater for more than a week. At least 17 people have died and nearly 700,000 residents have been impacted, with over 41,000 sheltered in 405 relief camps.
While a deep depression over the Bay of Bengal set the meteorological stage, blocked drains, unchecked hill-cutting, vanishing wetlands, and runoff from neighboring Meghalaya turned natural rainfall into a man-made catastrophe. Recurrent blackouts and shuttered schools further highlighted the city’s systemic unpreparedness.
The Supreme Court of India has now intervened, issuing notices to Assam, Meghalaya, and relevant oversight bodies. But with 366 locations in Guwahati officially marked as landslide-prone, legal scrutiny alone may not be enough.
Landslides Claim Lives in Mizoram, Sikkim, and Arunachal Pradesh
While floodwaters rose in the valleys, death fell from above in the hill states. Mizoram alone recorded 675 landslides, killing at least five, including three Myanmar refugees. Government data show over 300 families displaced, with roads across the mountainous terrain reduced to rubble.
In Sikkim, the Army paid the price. A landslide triggered by intense rainfall hit a military camp in Chhaten, killing three soldiers and leaving six missing. The Teesta River, already infamous from a previous disaster, again surged above danger levels.
Meanwhile, Arunachal Pradesh reported 12 deaths and over 30,000 affected across 24 districts. Changlang, near the Myanmar border, remains the worst-hit, with entire villages inundated and over 2,200 people evacuated.
Manipur and Tripura: Fractured Infrastructure, Forgotten People
Manipur saw over 165,000 affected and 35,242 homes damaged, as the Imphal, Kongba, and Nambul rivers breached embankments. Relief operations rescued more than 4,000 people, now housed in 78 shelters.
In Tripura, about 10,000 evacuees occupy 66 relief camps, mostly in the flood-prone West Tripura district. The state government is exploring long-term resettlement plans for riverside communities, offering a glimpse of what sustained policy might look like — if followed through.
As Northeast India reels from natural disasters, an emerging geopolitical threat looms from the north. China’s construction of the world’s largest dam on the Yarlung Tsangpo River, which flows into Arunachal Pradesh as the Siang, has raised alarms.
The dam — three times the size of the Three Gorges — could disrupt water flow into India, prompting fears it might be used as a “water bomb” in future conflicts. The recent comments by a Beijing think tank official have only added fuel to a fire already smoldering with strategic suspicion.
Military planners and local politicians warn that more dams are in the pipeline in Tibet, potentially endangering the region’s fragile ecosystems and diplomatic stability.
A Pattern of Neglect: Lessons Not Learned
This year’s disaster is not an isolated event. The Northeast has faced annual floods and landslides for decades, yet systemic policy reform remains elusive. Experts point to a pattern: short-term relief, photo-op rescues, and reconstruction — only to repeat the cycle.
Assam’s resumption of demolitions in the Silsako Beel area, intended to create a reservoir, is one such example. Though ecologically significant, the wetland is being cleared for infrastructure rather than conservation — a move that may ironically worsen future flood risks.
Despite promises, integrated watershed management, reforestation, and urban zoning reforms have seen little progress. Without a long-term climate adaptation strategy, the region is being left to face each monsoon with fewer defenses and more desperation.
If the current devastation sparks more than short-lived outrage — if it forces a rethinking of urban planning, environmental protections, and regional diplomacy — it could become a pivot point in how India and its neighbors respond to a changing planet.
Until then, for the people of Northeast India, the rain keeps falling — and so do the promises.
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