6,000 Villages Flood In India And Pakistan, 2 Million Evacuated Just In India: 100s Of Thousands Of Acres Of Crops Lost

[hatrack]

For days, farmers in the Indian state of Punjab watched the pounding monsoon rains fall and the rivers rise with mounting apprehension. By Wednesday, many woke to find their fears realised as the worst floods in more than three decades ravaged their farms and decimated their livelihoods. Hundreds of thousands of acres of bright green rice paddies – due to be harvested imminently – as well as crops of cotton and sugar cane were left destroyed as they became fully submerged in more than five feet of muddy brown flood waters. The bodies of drowned cattle littered the ground.

“The crops are ruined, and even our homes are in danger of collapsing,” said Parmpreet Singh, 52, a farmer from Ajnala in Amritsar district, Punjab. His family, including his elderly mother and two young children, were now living on the roof of their house to stay safe from the murky flood waters. “My entire livelihood depends on my seven hectares of farmland, all of which has been destroyed by flood waters,” he said, despairing that his only option left would be to sell his land and abandon farming. “I had already invested most of my money into seeds and fertilisers for the previous crop. Now everything is gone.”

While monsoon season usually brings heavy rain, the extreme levels of rainfall that fell across northern India this week caused untold damage in Punjab, resulting in flash floods and swollen rivers breaching their banks and overflowing into fields and villages. So far, 43 people have lost their lives and almost 2,000 villages in the state have been affected, leaving hundreds of thousands of people without electricity and access to clean water. The stench of rotting animal carcasses hangs over many villages.

EDIT

The two countries share several major rivers and the Indian government’s decision to release water from several heavily filled dams upstream has led to further flooding on both sides of the border in the geographical region of Punjab, prompting Pakistani officials to try to blame India for the disaster. Such was the fury of the overflowing Ravi River, which runs through the border of India into Pakistan, that on Friday it ripped down 30km of iron fencing that forms the highly militarised border between the two conflicting neighbours, and forced India’s border security force soldiers to abandon dozens of their highly sensitive posts.

EDIT

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/sep/06/everything-gone-punjabi-farmers-suffer-worst-floods-three-decades

[MrWowWow]

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