Monsoon Continues to Batter India: Assam Yet to Recover, Himachal Hit Again

The floodwaters have gone. The mud hasn't. Neither has the fear.

In Assam's Sivasagar district, families who survived the devastating July 19 floods are still sleeping under makeshift plastic tents pitched on piles of stones. Their homes remain buried under thick layers of silt. Their savings are gone. Their documents have disappeared. Their future is uncertain.

Then, hundreds of kilometres away in Guwahati on Tuesday evening, as floodlights illuminated the Assam Premier League and spectators settled in for a cricket match, a robotic dog quietly walked onto the field carrying a placard: Assam Needs You. No speeches. No slogans. Just four words that summed up a crisis many fear the country has already begun to forget.

'Everything I Earned Was Gone in Seconds'

For Kirpan Kurmi, the flood was not merely another natural disaster. It erased a lifetime.

The daily-wage labourer recalled how torrential rain turned into a torrent that engulfed his home within moments. His wife nearly drowned twice before family members pulled her to safety. Household belongings floated away. Years of savings vanished. "What I earned in my life... everything was destroyed within seconds," he said.

Today, Kirpan, his wife and two sons live in a small makeshift shelter near Bihubor market. "We reached here wearing only the clothes on our bodies." With one damaged eye, Kirpan had spent years working to educate his children. "Now the flood has made us zero." His family is among more than 300 families still living in temporary shelters across the area. Many sleep directly on stones. When rain falls again, sleep disappears. So does any sense of safety.

Children Lost More Than Their Homes

For Class 12 student Maini Gowala, the flood washed away something impossible to replace overnight. "My books and educational certificates were lost." Her teacher has promised new textbooks. The certificates, however, carried years of hard work.

Nearby, Anjali Karmakar remembers only one thought as floodwater rose to her neck: Saving her children. Her husband carried them on his shoulders to the roof of a neighbouring house before they escaped by boat in the darkness. Others remain haunted. "If another flood comes at night, we will all be finished," said 53-year-old Naren Rai, who says he has never witnessed anything like this in his lifetime.

According to the Assam State Disaster Management Authority, floods have claimed 89 lives in the state this year. For many survivors, the disaster has not ended. It has simply become quieter.

Monsoon Continues to Batter Himachal

While Assam struggles to rebuild, the monsoon continues to wreak havoc elsewhere.

In Himachal Pradesh, relentless rainfall has left 153 roads blocked, disrupted 191 electricity transformers, and affected 58 water supply schemes, according to the State Emergency Operation Centre. Mandi remains the worst-hit district, while authorities continue restoration work across Sirmaur, Kullu, Shimla and several other districts.

The India Meteorological Department has warned that active monsoon conditions are likely to persist over the coming days, prompting fresh caution in landslide- and flood-prone regions. The disruption serves as a reminder that India's annual battle with the monsoon is far from over.

As thousands watched the Assam Premier League in Guwahati, a RoboDog carrying a simple placard walked alongside players before the match began: Assam Needs You.

The initiative was designed to use the visibility of sport to remind people that flood victims continue to need help long after television cameras leave. It was a quiet intervention. But perhaps a necessary one. Because disasters do not end when the water recedes. For hundreds of families in Assam, recovery is measured not in days but in months. Some are still sleeping under tarpaulin sheets. Some are waiting to rebuild homes. Some are trying to replace schoolbooks. Some are simply hoping the next spell of rain does not wash away what little they have left. The flood may no longer dominate the headlines. For its survivors, however, it is still the story they wake up to every morning.

(With inputs from ANI)