When fields drowned, hope floated during the Punjab flood

The Toll of August 2025 In August 2025, Punjab was hit by its worst flooding in nearly four decades. The rivers Sutlej, Beas, Ravi, and Ghaggar burst their banks after days of relentless rain, overwhelming embankments and spilling into towns and villages. What followed was devastation on a massive scale: 13 districts severely affected, more than 2,200 villages submerged, and nearly 2.2 million acres of crops destroyed just weeks before harvest. The numbers themselves are stark. Acres of ripening paddy—worth billions in economic terms and priceless in the lives of farmers—vanished. Families fled in panic as rising waters swept away homes, schools, and livestock. For many, it wasn’t just property that was lost, but the certainty of their next meal, their next season, their next year.