In depth: Why is Assam affected by foods every year?

Assam is reeling from another devastating flood. Over 35 lakh people across 28 of the state's 33 districts are now affected due to flooding, an official bulletin issued by the state government stated on Friday.   

"The total number of people losing their lives in this year's flood and landslides in the state has gone up to 102. While 76 people died in flood-related incidents," the official bulletin added.

To make the situation even worse, the IMD predicted that the likely heavy rainfall from July 19-21 over north and northeast India will bring more woes for the state.

The Central Water Commission stated that all major rivers in the state are flowing over the dangerous level.

Currently, 49,977 people are taking shelter at over 300 relief camps set up in flood-affected districts. Meanwhile, the rescue operations are on in affected areas by NDRF, SDRF, state police, and locals.

Assam faced its fist wave of flash floods due to heavy rains caused by recent cyclonic storm 'Amphan', leading to major distress for the people in the state.

However the phenomenon is not new to the state, Nearly 43 Lakh people across 30 of the state's 33 districts were affected by the floods last year in the state. Therefore it is necessary to investigate why Assam is affected by floods every year.

Assam is a flood-prone state with its vast vast network of rivers. A comibination of natural and mad made factors have contributed to the flood-related devastation in the state.

In the monsoon period each year, Brahmaputra and Barak River with more than 50 numbers of tributaries feeding them, cause the flood devastation.

"The flood prone area of the state as assessed by the Rastriya Barh Ayog (RBA) is 31.05 Lakh Hectares against the total area of state 78.523 Lakh Hectares i.e. about. 39.58 % of the total land area of Assam. This is about 9.40% of total flood prone area of the country. Records show that average annual area affected by flood is 9.31 Lakh Hectares. The flood prone area of the country as a whole stands at about 10.2 % of the total area of the country, but flood prone area of Assam is 39.58 % of the area of the state. It signifies that the flood prone area of Assam is four times the national mark of the flood prone area of the country," information published by the government of Assam read.

Almost every year three to four waves of flood ravage the flood-prone areas of Assam.

Moreover, the flood situation is worsened in Assam as it receives river water flowing down from states like Arunachal Pradesh and Meghalaya. These rivers flowing down from neighboring states cause flash floods.

"During the year 2004 and 2014 the south bank tributaries of Brahmaputra in lower Assam, experienced flash floods of high magnitude due to cloud burst in the catchment areas in Meghalaya. During the month of August 2011, due to cloud burst in the catchment area of Arunachal Pradesh the river Gainadi and Jiadhal also experienced flash flood of very high magnitude. These flash floods caused large scale devastation in vast areas including losses of human lives," Assam's government website mentioned.

Another major problem is the bank erosion caused by the river Brahmaputra, Barak, and its tributaries in the state. This causes water to overflow in the low-lying areas every time a flood occurs.

Last but not the least,  a major mad made problem that has affected the state of Assam is the building of embankments which started from the 1950s. Unplanned construction of these embankments have disrupted Brahmaputra’s natural flow, studies have revealed.

In certain instances, authorities used dredgers to deepen the Brahmaputra. However, many environmentalists say that these engineering processes are conducted with little or no environmental assessment.

A report published by the Assam government in 2015 show that bank erosion caused by the Brahmaputra has destroyed 3,800 square kilometres of farmland since 1954.