‘Not even our grandfathers saw this’: Upper Assam reels as floods wash away entire villages

6 min readJul 30, 2026 08:25 PM IST A suffocating blanket of mud and debris covers the village, and a heavy stench of decay hangs in the air. Roads and houses are coated with quicksand-like sludge. (Express photo by Rajat Sain)Written by Swati Mishra & Rajat Sain“The 19th is cursed for Assam,” sighs cab driver Sumu on the way from Dibrugarh to Sivasagar. “Zubeen Da (singer Zubeen Garg) left us on the 19th… and then, on the 19th, came this flood that swept everything away.” In Lower Assam, flooding is practically a season. It arrives every year, sometimes forgiving, sometimes merciless. But Upper Assam doesn’t know that rhythm. So, when heavy rains in the Naga Hills broke over the region on July 19, it caught everyone completely off guard. The official death toll in the flood-ravaged state