‘It was a tsunami’: Floods leave death trail in India’s Assam

Assam, India – Debiram Panika, a 37-year-old daily wage labourer from northeastern India’s Assam state, would speak to his wife and two daughters on video calls every day from Dimapur, a town in neighbouring Nagaland state where he worked.But when his phone rang at about 11am on July 19, there was panic in the voice of his 30-year-old wife, Dipika.Recommended Stories list of 3 itemslist 1 of 3India’s severe monsoon season causes more than 100 deaths since Julylist 2 of 3On huge river island in India’s Assam, annual floods threaten local artslist 3 of 3‘Nowhere else to go’: In India’s Assam, frequent floods hit river islandersend of list“I could only see my wife telling me on the video call, ‘This is it for us. We are going to die,’ before the call was disconnected,” Panika recalled, speaking to Al Jazeera.It was the last time they spoke. Moments later, rising waters from the nearby Dikhow River, which snakes past their village in Assam’s Sivasagar district, surged into their bamboo-and-mud home with a ferocious current and swept away Dipika and four-year-old daughter Radhika.“The water came flooding like sea waves, and they were gone in a flash,” Panika said, as he stood in front o...