Assam floods: Sivasagar survivors recount harrowing escape; face long recovery
Forced to spend 12 hours atop a wooden divan floating in the floodwaters that engulfed their home in the worst-hit Sivasagar district of Assam, septuagenarian
Forced to spend 12 hours atop a wooden divan floating in the floodwaters that engulfed their home in the worst-hit Sivasagar district of Assam, septuagenarian couple survived the deluge but lost everything. Communication ceased when their mobile phone batteries ran out. Rescued by boat 10 days ago from the heart of the eastern Assam town of Nazira, retired professor Mukul Bezbora and his wife Bonti Bezbora now face an uncertain future with nothing but the clothes on their back and a house filled with silt and debris. In the ONGC Colony in Sivasagar, Madhusmita Borthakur's experience was no less terrifying. She may have been spared by the deluge, but was nearly marooned with her two daughters as the campus got inundated fast. With her husband out on field duty, she managed to hitch a ride in an open van with her two daughters and spent the next few days at a friend's house. The deluge that hit Assam over a week ago hit Sivasagar the worst, pushing the death toll of this year's flood in the State to 68 and impacting more than six lakh people at its peak.
Mr. Bezbora and his wife barely survived the horrors of the night of July 19. "We heard the sound of a raging torrent at around 8 p.m. There was commotion outside. My wife and I climbed on an old wooden divan we had, where we stored old quilts. The stuff inside was wringing wet while the divan itself was floating with us on top," he recalled. "The water current was so strong that it toppled the fridge and almirahs. Nothing survived. We escaped with only the clothes we were wearing." They were rescued on the morning of July 20 by boats sent out by the administration. As the floodwaters started receding, the couple returned home to find that almost all of their belongings had been destroyed. Two truckloads of mud and debris were cleared out of his house. Even then, two to three inches of silt remained. "We don't know if we will be able to salvage anything at all," the retired professor of Gargaon College told PTI. A resident of Nazira town since 1992, Mr. Bezbora claimed they had never seen or heard of such a massive flood in the area ever.
"There has been waterlogging in the area following heavy rains. But such a deluge was unimaginable." While lamenting his own loss, Mr. Bezbora expressed equal concern for others affected by the floods. "I have some means to put my life back together. My son has also come. But there are many who are still reeling under the flood and have lost even their livelihood," he said, urging expeditious rehabilitation for the affected people. In the ONGC colony, Ms. Borthakur faced an ordeal unlike anything she had ever known. As floodwaters crept higher, she watched helplessly, trapped inside her home with her nine-year-old and three-year-old daughters. "My husband was away on field duty and was not to return for another week. Though we were relatively safe, I got scared as the water continued to rise with great speed. I didn't have anyone to fall back on if there was any emergency," she said. The mother of two managed to hitch a ride in an open van with her daughters and spent the next few days at a friend's house in the area, which was miraculously saved from being inundated.
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