Tragedy in Guwahati: Landslide Buries Home, Trapping Family of Four Under Debris

GUWAHATI, ASSAM — A terrifying landslide struck the Madhabdev Nagar area in Maligaon on Sunday evening, July 19, 2026, completely burying a residential home and trapping a family of four beneath a mountain of mud and structural debris. The catastrophic slope failure was triggered by relentless, incessant monsoon rains that have severely impacted normal life and brought the city of Guwahati to a standstill.

The disaster unfolded during the late hours of Sunday in the Goshala locality of Maligaon. Following hours of continuous heavy downpours, a massive portion of the vulnerable hillside suddenly gave way without warning. Tons of earth, mud, and loose rock careened down the slope, smashing straight into the home of Ranjit Das, a local railway employee.

The structural impact crushed portions of the building instantly, trapping Ranjit Das, his wife Sabitri Das, and their young son and daughter deep inside the rubble.

Anxious neighbors who heard the deafening rumble immediately sounded the alarm, alerting emergency responders and local authorities. Disaster response units and local rescue teams rushed to Madhabdev Nagar to mount a desperate excavation operation.

Battling highly unstable mud conditions and ongoing rainfall, rescuers successfully located and pulled all four trapped family members from the debris alive. The injured victims were immediately evacuated and rushed to the Central NFR Hospital in Maligaon for urgent emergency treatment. While three members are being treated for various injuries, medical officials report that one of the rescued individuals remains in critical condition.

The harrowing incident has once again turned the spotlight on Guwahati's high vulnerability to monsoon-driven natural disasters. Overnight torrential rainfall has left several key roads and low-lying sectors completely inundated, crippling morning traffic and disrupting public infrastructure across the city.

According to reports from the Assam State Disaster Management Authority (ASDMA), the city’s hilly terrains face a recurring threat of dangerous slope failures during active monsoon cycles. Maligaon alone has been red-flagged as a major landslide-prone zone, with at least eight specific locations inside the sector officially designated as highly vulnerable.

In the wake of Sunday’s tragedy, the Kamrup Metropolitan district administration has issued a fresh landslide advisory, strongly cautioning resident in hillside settlements and warning commuters to avoid traveling through vulnerable, steep terrain during heavy downpours.