Driven by the impact of the Southwest Monsoon, widespread rainfall ranging from light to heavy has lashed all seven Northeastern states, including Assam, over the past week. Furthermore, torrential downpours triggered by a cloudburst in neighboring Nagaland have caused rivers and tributaries flowing down into Assam to overflow, sharply worsening flood conditions across Upper Assam districts—particularly Charaideo, Sivasagar, Jorhat, and Golaghat—over the last four to five days.
Responding to requisitions from the Government of Assam and the respective District Disaster Management Authorities (DDMAs), two specially trained rescue teams from the First Battalion of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF)—based out of Patgaon, Azara in West Guwahati—arrived in Jorhat district on the night of July 19 to carry out rescue and relief operations.
According to the Public Relations Officer of the 1st NDRF Battalion, the team led by Deputy Commandant N. K. Tiwari launched intensive search-and-rescue efforts using rubber boats starting July 20 in the severely affected Teok revenue circle of Jorhat district. The team successfully evacuated over 500 people, including women and children, to safer locations. Notably, the team saved a pregnant woman, two other women, and two children from life-threatening situations.
Following an additional request from the state government, another NDRF team was deployed to the worst-hit areas of Golaghat district. Official sources confirmed that two teams equipped with 12 high-grade rescue rubber boats and experienced deep-water divers are currently deployed across Jorhat and Golaghat districts to handle emergency evacuations in coordination with the local administration.
The 1st Battalion NDRF headquarters noted that 18 highly trained specialized rescue teams, equipped with state-of-the-art gear, remain on 24/7 standby to respond to natural and human-made disasters—including floods and landslides—across four Northeastern states. Meanwhile, the newly appointed Commandant of the 1st Battalion is maintaining continuous communication with the Assam State Disaster Management Authority (ASDMA) to monitor and supervise ongoing rescue operations directly from HQ.
