Beginning in May 2022, deadly floods hit northeastern India and Bangladesh. Over 9 million people in both countries have been affected, and around 300 people have been killed.
, millions of people across the affected areas are reported to be in urgent need of food and medicine.
Background
Bangladesh and northeastern India, especially Assam, are mainly flat floodplains with numerous rivers flowing across them, the most prominent of which are the Ganga (called Padma in Bangladesh) and Brahmaputra (called Jamuna in Bangladesh). Other major river systems in the region include the Barak-Surma-Kushiyara river system, which flows through northeastern Bangladesh and the Barak Valley of Assam. Due to the large volumes of water coming from the Himalayas and the heavy monsoon rains, flooding is a regular occurrence in this region. At the time of the floods, a La Nina event was active in the Pacific meaning India and Bangladesh would receive heavier monsoon showers. Beginning in May 2022, deadly floods hit northeastern India and Bangladesh. Over 9 million people in both countries have been affected, and around 150 have been killed.[1][2]
2022 India–Bangladesh floods
Date
23 May 2022 to present
Location
India (Assam, Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh, Tripura): Bangladesh (Sylhet, Mymensingh, Rangpur, Rajshahi divisions) Cause Heavy monsoon rains Deaths 250+ India: Assam: 170+ Other northeastern states: 30+ Bangladesh: 80+ Property damage India: 4,000+ villages 113,000 hectares of crop area Bangladesh:
53,000 hectares of crop area
Website
[1]
Millions of people across the affected areas are reported to be in urgent need of food and medicine.[3]
Around 40% of Assam's area is a flood plain, which is also roughly 10% of India's total flood-prone area. According to ISRO, nearly 30% of Assam's land area have been flooded at least once from 1998 to 2015. Heavy rainfall and settling of sediments plays a major role in rising the water level of the Brahmaputra river and its tributaries. Also, according to a survey, the Brahmaputra have widening yearly due to erosion, which also makes the flooding worse.
Events
India
Assam Floods
Assam Floods 2022 ( অসমীয়া (Assamese) : - অসমৰ বানপানী ২০২২) is one of the worst floods ever seen in Assam in the decade which lasted for almost 7 Months ( From April 2022 to October 2022 ) in a series of waves.
The main causes for the floods are the Pre-Monsson rains which were started from 6 April 2022 across the state and the Monsoon Season there after.
In total around 5.6 million people got affected, 4.7 million people got displaced, Crop land of 108,308 Hectares got damaged, 3,660,173 animals got affected and 32 districts in the state : - Bajali, Baksa, Barpeta, Biswanath, Bongaigaon, Cachar, Chirang, Darrang, Dhemaji, Dhubri, Dibrugarh, Dima Hasao, Goalpara, Golaghat, Hailakandi, Hojai, Kamrup, Kamrup (Metro), Karbi Anglong, West Karbi Anglong , Karimganj, Kokrajhar, Lakhimpur, Majuli, Morigaon, Nagaon, Nalbari, Sivasagar, Sonitpur, South Salmara, Tamulpur, Tinsukia and Udalguri got affected by the floods. .
Impact
The first wave of the floods, caused by the excessive rains in May 2022, due to which flooding was seen in 27 districts. Soil erosion happened in large scale across various places in the state. Around 670,000 people got affected by the first wave.
The second wave of the floods, which lasted from June 2022 to September 2022, due to "Monsoon season", caused the Brahmaputra, Barak and other major rivers in the state to overflow which eroded the river banks and also the houses present their. Around 1,100 houses got completely destroyed and 7,000 houses got partially damaged. Landslides were also observed in 6 districts: - Dima Hasao, Goalpara, Kamrup, Kamrup (Metro), Morigaon and Cachar. Over 90,000 people got affected in the second wave of the floods.
The third wave of the floods, the last wave, in October 2022, caused the low-lying areas near the riverbanks to get flooded with rainwater and again extensive erosion was observed. Around 70,000 people got affected in the third wave.
Several Japanese encephalitis cases were reported across the state during the floods which raised the fear of spread of Water Borne Diseases across the state.
Assam's second largest city, Silchar, have been inundated for six days.
Railway lines were also affected due to flooding and landslides.