The Garo Hills of Meghalaya have been devastated by worst ever floods. Water level is such that it has reached the roof tops of peoples’ homes. A former minister and his family members clung to their tinned roof for dear life. Nearly 30 people have died while several are still missing, perhaps swept away by the furious current. Bridges have been ripped apart and large parts of Garo Hills will remain disconnected until such time the bridges are repaired. Lakhs of people have lost their homes and belongings. Several parts of Garo Hills remain cut off from telecommunication services. Those with families elsewhere who are trying to connect with their families in the flood affected areas are a worried lot. What is appalling though is the failure of the district administers to handle the crises. Many of the middle and high level officials were absent from their posts having all left for Tura in the weekend. The disaster struck between Saturday night and Sunday morning.
In terms of disaster preparedness, Meghalaya is still a long way away. In recent memory only the state of Odisha handled the cyclone, Phailin which lashed the state in October 2013 with some amount of preparedness and alacrity thereby greatly reducing the number of casualties. The weather experts had given sufficient warnings for evacuation of people living along the coastlines who also are the most vulnerable. In Meghalaya too there was a weather warning and people were warned of very heavy rains that would last at least 72 hours but no one expected a cloudburst of that proportion. The Meghalaya Chief Minister observed that perhaps with climate change even the architecture of houses, roads and bridges have to change in order to counter such enormous floods. Indeed there is need to bolster climate change strategies. Climate change mitigation and adaptation methods need to be put in motion post haste before the next climate induced calamity strikes.