Living with floods or dealing with cloudbursts

The Indian state of Assam has witnessed severe floods in last weeks. Floods in the Brahmaputra-Jamuna basin during the monsoon season are not new; as they occur annually in Assam as well as Bangladesh. 

However, this year’s floods didn’t follow the traditional pattern. For instance, according to the Indian Meteorological Department, the state received at least 33 per cent less rainfall than normal in June and July. Not only that; the neighboring states - Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur and Meghalaya - that contribute to the floods in Assam also had a deficit of 41 per cent, 40 per cent and 58 per cent respectively (The Assam Tribune, August 2, 2026).

This year’s floods have mainly occurred in Golaghat, Sibsagar, Charaideo, Bajali, Dhemaji, Sonitpur and Jorhat districts. Of these, Sibsagar and Charaideo districts are the most affected. Though 7 among 35 districts of Assam is flooded, the causality is much greater than the previous year. Last year the number of deaths in floods across the state was 25 whereas this year, a total of 82 deaths has already been reported in seven districts only.

This recent pattern of floods is also known in Bangladesh. In the first half of last month, Chittagong and the Chittagong Hill Tracts, CHT, districts were similarly flooded, even though there had been a shortage of rainfall in the region the previous month. The month of June has received the least rainfall in comparison with the last seven years; in particular 29 per cent less rainfall than normal. 

On the other hand, that region received heavy rainfall in just six days from July 5 to 10. Chittagong district alone witnessed 1,132 millimetres of rainfall. However, the thirty-year average rainfall in that district in July was 811 millimetres.

In Assam, too, there has been a deficit in rainfall throughout the state across June and July. But the basin of the Dikho, a tributary of the Brahmaputra, received 436 per cent more rainfall than normal in the last week of July and caused widespread flooding in Sibsagar and the Charaideo districts. Crop fields, fish ponds, markets and houses were swept away by the strong current, as happened in the floods of Chittagong region.

In my opinion, the reason for the increased number of deaths in such floods is not only the suddenness and level of the flood; it is people’s lack of preparedness too. The people of the Brahmaputra basin in Assam are used to floods every year. However, many deaths were seen when massive floods occur over a relatively small area in a short period of time. Deaths from drowning in floodwaters have been occurring since distant times. But most of the deaths today are caused by people being swept away by the floods or buried due to collapse of their houses.

In Bangladesh, the people here have been accustomed to ‘Living with Floods’ since ancient times. So, the loss of life is also relatively limited; in some years it is zero. However, in August 2024, a record 71 people lost their lives in such a short period of time in the Feni and Comilla regions due to severe floods. A total of 58 people have been killed in this year’s floods in Chittagong and the CHT as the people of the area had no experience of dealing with such floods.

Experts have been warning that cloudbursts, or sudden cloud explosions, will continue to occur in different regions because of climate change. There will be abnormal rainfall in limited areas instead of normal rain falling evenly over a wide area, causing severe flooding. The damage will be extensive although the size of the affected area may be smaller.

In 2022 the rainfall and floods in the Sylhet region broke a century-old record. In 2023, Chittagong experienced record rainfall, and the newly built Chittagong-Cox’s Bazar railway line was submerged by floods in the hilly region of Bandarban. I have already cited the devastating rainfall and floods in the Feni-Comilla region in August 2024.

That means the anticipated cloudbursts due to climate change are now becoming a reality. And how those rains and floods can change the traditional form of these two natural cycles each year, and how destructive they can become, has been shown by the floods in the Chittagong region of Bangladesh in the first week of July, and in Assam, India, in the last week of July.

The floods in Assam flow down the rivers into Bangladesh; usually within three to five days. Local rainfall added to the floods quickly becomes catastrophic. And if a cloudburst occurs as well, then there is even greater danger.

The concern is that the people of Bangladesh are still not used to dealing with cloudbursts despite living with floods for centuries. This has been proved in Sylhet in 2022, in Bandarban in 2023, in Feni in 2024, in Kurigram in 2025, and most recently in Chittagong this year. This has also shown that although our preparedness to deal with ordinary floods is often appreciated, we are still inexperienced in dealing with the cloudbursts. Our lack of preparedness has become clear in the last few years.

Sheikh Rokon: Writer and River Researcher; Secretary General of Riverine People

skrokon@gmail.com

The article was originally published in the online Bengali edition of The Daily Samakal and has been rewritten for the English version by Mohammed Humayun Kabir, Assistant News Editor