Floods Submerge Nazira's Tea Estates, Bamonpookrie Worst Hit

A cloudburst in neighbouring Nagaland sent a deluge into Upper Assam that breached the embankment of the Dorika River and submerged almost all the tea estates of the Nazira sub-division in Sivasagar district, Sentinel Assam reported on 20 July. The water is still on the gardens.

Bamonpookrie Tea Estate took the worst of it, the most severe devastation among the estates named in reporting. Plantation activity across the sub-division has stopped entirely. Workers' quarters, estate hospitals, schools, roads, power systems and drinking water supplies went under and were knocked out together, NKTV reported.

Thousands of workers and their families have been displaced within the estates themselves, sheltering in factory buildings, managers' bungalows and whatever else stands high enough. NKTV reported that one pregnant worker delivered her baby inside factory premises because the floodwater made it impossible to reach a hospital in time. A second expectant mother required urgent medical intervention.

The Tea Association of India, Assam Branch, said it was concerned for the affected gardens and their workers, and "sincerely appreciates the prompt response of the District Administration, Sivasagar," which coordinated rescue operations, moved stranded people out and arranged medical assistance. The association said relief and rehabilitation should continue "on priority so that normalcy can be restored at the earliest," naming drinking water, electricity, roads, medical services and workers' housing as the outstanding needs.

The estate flooding sits inside a much larger event. Down To Earth reported on 25 July that the Assam floods have killed at least 41 people and affected nearly 653,000 across Sivasagar, Charaideo, Golaghat and Jorhat, the same district cluster, with about 939 villages still submerged and more than 24,000 hectares of farmland under water. Those figures cover the districts as a whole and not the tea estates alone.

Sources: Sentinel Assam, "Assam Tea Estates Devastated as Floods Submerge Nazira, Sivasagar"; NKTV, "Assam Floods: Cloudburst and Deluge Submerge Upper Assam Tea Belt, Triggering Humanitarian Crisis"; Down To Earth, "India's Monsoon Crisis: Assam Floods, J&K Landslides and Red Alerts Across Multiple States".