How a 97-year-old escaped deadly Indian floods on a banana raft

What the report says

A BBC World News report describes how severe flooding in India’s northeastern state of Assam forced a family in Sivasagar district to rescue a 97-year-old woman on a makeshift raft made from banana trunks. The woman, Lokada Duarah, could not walk, and her daughter-in-law Bornali Baruah and her husband carried her through rising water after no boat or rescue team was available. They reached a relief shelter along a highway after about an hour, as floodwater later filled their home.

The article says the flooding is part of a larger disaster across Assam, where official figures cited in the report put the death toll at 100 and say nearly 1.2 million people have been affected across 25 districts. It also notes extensive damage to homes and the opening of relief camps. Charing village, where Baruah lives, was described as an area that had not flooded in living memory, which made the sudden inundation especially alarming for residents.

Baruah told BBC that the floods destroyed much of her livestock business, including goats, ducks, chickens and fish, along with equipment and household belongings. She had previously worked as a journalist before turning to animal husbandry. The report adds that experts see Assam’s flooding as a recurring natural hazard intensified by sediment, erosion, settlement patterns and infrastructure changes, while heavier rainfall and river overflow have recently pushed floods into places that were previously less exposed. Baruah said she now has to consider raising her home and preparing for future floods.