When the floodwaters of the Yamuna River gushed into Bindu Pandey’s home in New Delhi, she knew her family had to leave instantly.
“We got scared. The children were crying. We had to take out our children from there,” 40-year-old Pandey said.
Forced to abandon their belongings, the family sought shelter in a relief tent arranged by the authorities near their flooded homes. On Friday, days of torrential rains left that shelter tent inundated as well and the family was shifted into a school some 7 kilometers (4.3 miles) away.
The Yamuna River originates in the Himalayas and runs through India’s capital city of New Delhi. Families like Pandey’s who live near its banks have been subjected to temporary displacements in the past after widespread flooding in monsoon season. But this season’s rains have been much heavier than recent years, making the river breach danger levels and putting hundreds of low-lying areas at risk.
Pandey said her family was also affected by flooding in 2023.
“Sometimes we feel we should relocate, but when the flooding ends we just want to live there,” Pandey said.
Pandey said there is not much she will be able to salvage from her flooded home when the waters recede. She is worried that the accumulated sludge and mud will take a lot of effort, money and energy to clear away.
She is also particularly concerned about her children’s study books, which she says must have been destroyed in the floods.
“We had placed them on racks. How will my children read from those books now?” she asked.
Every year, the monsoon brings 80% of South Asia’s annual rainfall in a season that starts in June and ends in mid-September. But in recent years, it has become erratic and more extreme, delivering death and destruction through floods and landslides.
In August, heavy rains, flash-floods and cloudbursts battered much of north India, killing hundreds of people and displacing over a million more. They also destroyed homes and thousands of acres of agricultural crops.
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