On July 19, a cloudburst upstream sent a sudden wall of water through Upper Assam. Sivasagar, Charaideo, Jorhat and Golaghat districts are experiencing their worst flooding in decades, with the Dikhow River breaching its extreme flood level. Bihubor, Nepali Khuti, Bihari Basti, and Railwayghat are among the worst-affected areas in Sivasagar district. Assam has a history of major floods up to five times a year, killing scores of people and animals and damaging crops and assets worth more than ₹1,000 crore annually. The floods this year have killed 98 people so far, most of them in three eastern districts — Sivasagar, Charaideo, and Jorhat. Experts believe the catastrophe may not have been caused by extreme rainfall alone. Satellite imagery has revealed extensive excavation, deforestation and other human interventions along the river’s upper reaches, particularly in Nagaland, raising concerns that decades of environmental degradation may have intensified the disaster. Coal mining, stone quarrying and shifting (jhum) cultivation have stripped large stretches of hill slopes of vegetation, making them increasingly unstable and vulnerable to erosion and landslides. …