Kohima, July 22: Nearly every district in Nagaland has been battered by landslides and flash floods after an episode of extreme rainfall on July 19 and 20, affecting an estimated 12,865 families, with the State Disaster Management Authority (NSDMA) warning that increasingly intense rainfall linked to climate change is making such disasters more frequent.
Addressing the media on Wednesday, NSDMA Joint Chief Executive Officer Johnny Ruangmei said the widespread destruction followed a cloudburst-like event, despite the authority issuing an SMS-based weather warning on the evening of July 18.
According to NSDMA, Mon district recorded 130 mm of rainfall on July 19, while Mokokchung received 126 mm—rainfall that would normally be spread over nearly a week but instead fell within a few hours, unleashing landslides and flash floods across the state.
Mon emerged as the worst-hit district, where nine people were killed in a landslide and another died in a flash flood. Longleng, Tuensang, Kiphire, Shamator, Mokokchung and several adjoining districts also reported extensive damage to roads, homes and infrastructure.
Ruangmei said Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio immediately sanctioned ₹70 lakh in relief assistance for Mon district, including ex gratia payments to victims’ families, along with an additional ₹10 lakh to support community volunteers and civil society organisations engaged in rescue and relief operations. NSDMA has also released immediate assistance to all affected districts, with the first relief package already reaching flood-hit families in Tuli under Mokokchung district.
The disaster has crippled connectivity, with the Mon-Longleng road remaining cut off and power and telecom services severely disrupted. NSDMA is coordinating with the Department of Telecommunications to restore communication networks.
Rescue operations have also been hampered by blocked highways and poor weather. Ruangmei said NDRF teams and additional personnel could not be deployed because roads remain impassable, while helicopters have been grounded due to unsafe flying conditions.
The authority is now trying to arrange helicopter transport for students stranded in Mon and Longleng so they can appear for the NPSC Combined Entrance Examination. Assistance from the Indian Air Force has also been sought, subject to weather conditions.
Ruangmei said the pattern of rainfall in Nagaland has changed dramatically, with intense precipitation now occurring within hours rather than over several days, increasing the risk of landslides and flash floods.
Highlighting efforts to strengthen disaster preparedness, he said NSDMA’s ELONA supercomputing platform is improving weather prediction and disaster-risk analysis and will eventually support the development of a native large language model for climate and disaster analytics.
While ELONA is not accessible to the public, residents have been urged to use the Safer Nagaland App, which provides location-specific weather forecasts, rainfall alerts and allows users to report disaster incidents directly to NSDMA.
NSDMA is also working with the Geological Survey of India on a pilot rainfall-triggered landslide early warning system in Chümoukedima, Kohima and Peren districts, with plans to expand it across the state after successful trials.
Ruangmei said the authority currently has 240 State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) personnel and over 90 technical and professional staff, but acknowledged that specialised rescue equipment, including life detectors, remains inadequate for disasters of this magnitude.
Appealing for public cooperation, he urged residents to strictly follow weather advisories, evacuate landslide-prone areas whenever heavy rain warnings are issued, avoid riverbanks during the monsoon, stay away from trees and electric poles during lightning, and restrict travel to daylight hours wherever possible.
“Despite resource constraints, NSDMA remains committed to coordinating rescue, relief and rehabilitation efforts as the monsoon continues,” he said.
