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In one of the wettest places on earth, devastating landslides and flash floods leave 34 dead -Rokibuz Zaman

-Scroll.in

The state has said excess rainfall is to blame but experts and activists on the ground say rampant mining and construction has destroyed the landscape.

On the morning of June 17, it was raining heavily when a family of five sat down to have breakfast in Kenmynsaw village in Meghalaya’s East Khasi village. The rainfall triggered landslides in the area.

As they heard the rumble of a landslide, 54-year-old Drit Byrsaw and her 56-year-old husband Robino Kynter asked the three children – their daughter and two nieces – to move from the old kitchen to a newly constructed building close by. Kynter and his wife went back to the kitchen to get a bag of rice, G Kharkongor, a government official who handles the development activities of the village, told Scroll.in.

“When they tried to pull the bag, the first landslide came and took away the mother,” said Kharkongor. “Within minutes another landslide came and took him [Kynter] away also.”

Kenmynsaw village is about 7-km from Mawsynram, one of the wettest places on earth. Even by Mawsynram’s standards, the rainfall that morning was extreme.

The Guwahati regional weather forecasting centre’s records show that the region received 1,003.6 millimetres of rainfall between June 16 and June 17, which is the highest ever 24-hour rainfall recorded in Mawsynram, surpassing the previous record of 945.4 millimetres of 1966.

Byrsaw and Kynter were taking care of their own daughter as well as the two nieces who had lost their parents. Apart from the elderly couple, 32 others have been killed while 11 are still missing since April 1 due to landslides and floods in Meghalaya, according to a statement issued by the state disaster management authority on June 23.

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