Nadi is Hindi for river. It is a feminine word and most of the country's rivers are named for female Hindu deities. All except the mighty Brahmaputra, the only male river in all of India. In some areas the massive waterway is as wide as a lake, where the view of the bank is little more than a distant line of palm trees on the horizon. The surging currents are said to be powerful enough to drag down even the strongest of swimmers, and the sandy embankments are no match for the vigorous river.
Water seeps through breaks in the wall, gradually flooding the communities on the other side.
In some areas, the rushing waters completely breached embankments, and flash floods have consumed entire villages in a matter of minutes. Vast fields of rice paddies have been lost to the floods. Throughout Assam, floodwaters have contaminated wells and clean drinking water is in short supply. The villagers know they must boil tainted water before drinking it, but the bamboo sticks and reeds they use for fuel are too wet to burn. To assist the Indian Red Cross in meeting the water needs in Assam state, and to bring relief to those families who lost everything to flash floods, the American Red Cross is sending 5,000 family kits to benefit 30,000 villagers.