Assam Floods: The Village The Dikhow River Wiped Out

The water rose from knee level to chest height within minutes before climbing even higher.
Homes crumbled, cattle sheds collapsed and everything that could be carried away by the current vanished.

In just two hours, flash floods from the Dikhow river turned Assam's Nepali Khuti -- a self-reliant Gorkha dairy village -- into a landscape of mud, carcasses and shattered lives.

The first thing that strikes a visitor to Nepali Khuti is not the sight of destruction but the smell.

A thick, sour stench of rotting animal carcasses hangs over what was once a bustling Gorkha dairy village on the banks of the Dikhow river, about 12 kilometres from Nazira near the Assam-Nagaland border.

Grey silt blankets roads, courtyards and paddy fields. Half-collapsed walls, twisted tin roofs, broken bamboo poles and splintered timber are all that remain of homes washed away by the flood. A handful of cows wander aimlessly through the ruins, a stark reminder of a village that once supplied around 1.5 quintals of milk every day.

Thirteen days after one of the worst flash floods to hit the area, Nepali Khuti is still struggling to recover.

Two hours that changed everything

Residents say the disaster unfolded with terrifying speed on July 19.

What began as a routine monsoon morning turned catastrophic when torrential rain in the Nagaland hills sent a massive surge of water rushing down the Dikhow river.

Between 11 am and 1 pm, the entire settlement disappeared under floodwaters.

The water rose from knee level to chest height within minutes before climbing even higher. Homes crumbled, cattle sheds collapsed and everything that could be carried away by the current vanished.

"The floodwaters came between 11 am and 1 pm," said Sonmani Saikia as she stood amid the wreckage of her home.

A mother's fight to save her children

When the water entered her house, Sonmani's four children -- aged one, three, four and seven -- were inside.

"There was nothing else I could do," she said.

"I gathered all of them and carried them to a higher place. They were very young, so I just held them tightly."

The family remained trapped for nearly three hours before rescuers arrived in a boat around 4 pm and shifted them to the roof of another house.

They spent the entire night there in soaked clothes before moving to a nearby town for two days.

Returning home brought another heartbreak.

"We had 18 cows. Only one survived," she said quietly.

The family's livelihood depended entirely on dairy farming.

Now, they survive on flattened rice and biscuits supplied by volunteers.

Livestock swept away

Just a few houses away, another resident, Bipul, recalled watching the river rise with alarming speed.

He had checked the river in the morning, but by around 10 or 11 am, water had already begun entering his home.

He carried his elder son to safety while his wife waded through chest-deep water with their younger child.

Then he went back to rescue the family's animals.

It was too late.

Eight goats, five ducks and five chickens were swept away, along with clothes and household belongings.

The couple earned their living as daily wage labourers.

Since the flood, work has stopped completely.

'The cows were our Lakshmi'

For decades, dairy farming formed the backbone of Nepali Khuti's economy.

Nearly every household owned cattle, and milk was collected daily before being transported to nearby markets.

Chinmoy, whose family ran a tea and sweet shop that also collected milk from villagers, said the loss of cattle had shattered the community.

"The animals were our Lakshmi," he said.

"About 1.5 quintals of milk used to go out from this village every day."

He recalled how a group of eight to ten men tried desperately to rescue the cattle.

Using a boat, they untied several cows and searched for higher ground.

But the current was too strong.

The overloaded boat nearly overturned, forcing them to release the animals into the floodwaters.

Many of the cattle were later found dead near bamboo groves downstream.

"There were around 1,000 cows in this village before the flood," Chinmoy said.

"Now only about 15 to 20 remain."

A night of fear

Before the flood, Nepali Khuti had more than 200 houses.

Almost none escaped serious damage.

As darkness fell on July 19, survivors clung to rooftops, trees and even electric transformers while floodwaters surrounded them.

Around 61 people crowded onto the only elevated RCC building in the village.

They spent the entire night there without food or drinking water before local volunteers and boatmen managed to rescue them the next morning.

Recovery still far away

Although the floodwaters have receded, rebuilding has barely begun.

Many families continue to live under tarpaulin sheets. Others have returned only to dig through thick layers of mud in search of utensils, documents or any belongings that might still be salvageable.

Dead cattle and poultry remain buried beneath silt or scattered across the village.

The decomposing carcasses have filled the air with an overpowering stench and raised fears of disease.

Relief from ordinary people

Residents say most of the help has come not from government agencies but from ordinary citizens.

Members of the Gorkha community have distributed flattened rice, biscuits, cattle feed and a limited number of tin sheets.

Assam Gorkha Development Council Chairman Prem Tamang visited the village and provided assistance for the few surviving cattle.

But villagers say official relief has been limited.

"Most of the assistance has come from ordinary people. I sincerely thank the public," one resident said.

Waiting to rebuild

Across Nepali Khuti, families are asking for the same things -- tin sheets to replace lost roofs, financial support to rebuild homes and assistance to restart dairy farming.

The village was never wealthy.

But it was self-reliant.

Its dairy economy sustained hundreds of families, with cattle providing not just income but also identity.

The Dikhow river, which had nourished their fields and livelihoods for generations, destroyed that way of life in a single afternoon.

The Assam government has announced flood relief measures across affected districts, including financial assistance and loan moratoriums.

For the people of Nepali Khuti, however, those announcements remain distant promises.

Standing ankle-deep in mud where homes, cattle sheds and entire herds once stood, they say what they need now are not assurances, but tin sheets, livestock and practical support to begin rebuilding lives washed away in just two devastating hours.

Feature Presentation: Aslam Hunani/Rediff