Punjab flood situation worsens: How 2025 horror mirrors 'once-in-a-1000-years' devastation of 1988

Residents of Punjab are confronting severe flooding, with officials describing the situation as unprecedented and evoking memories of a catastrophic deluge that struck the region 37 years ago. Widespread damage to farmland and homes has been reported across multiple districts as rivers overflow following heavy monsoon rains.

According to an HT report, thousands of acres of paddy farmland and hundreds of houses in villages along the Sutlej, Beas and Ravi rivers are now submerged or cut off. The worst-hit districts include Gurdaspur, Pathankot, Hoshiarpur, Kapurthala, Amritsar, Tarn Taran, Fazilka and Ferozepur, with flooding also affecting Ludhiana.

The current crisis has drawn stark comparisons to the devastating 1988 floods, a event etched in the collective memory of the province. For many, the present suffering feels even more acute. "After decades, we are suffering from this situation again. As per my observation, the situation is worse now," Gurnam Singh, former sarpanch of Dugri village near the Ravi in Gurdaspur district, was cited by HT as saying. He alleged that the government's response has been insufficient.

Echoing this sentiment, Manpreet Singh from a village in Amritsar told reporters, "I was a young boy during the 1988 floods and still remember the devastation. However, this time the situation is far worse, with over two dozen villages submerged."

The 1988 disaster, as detailed in India Today archive material, was termed a “once in a thousand years” phenomenon by officials at the time. It was triggered when the region received more than five times the forecasted rainfall in late September, causing flash floods that destroyed 75% of the summer-sown crop.

The death toll was estimated to be between 600 and 1,500, with prominent Punjabi newspapers from the era reporting that bodies had flowed into the province across the border from a similarly ravaged Pakistan. Images of these historic reports have resurfaced and are now circulating widely on social media.

Allegations of dam mismanagement, which were rampant in 1988, are being heard once more. The opening of the floodgates at the Bhakra and Pong dams back then was painted by some as a conspiracy against the state, a charge vehemently denied by the then-head of the Bhakra Beas Management Board (BBMB), Major General BN Kumar, who said he was open to an inquiry.

The controversy became inextricably linked to the period's violent separatist militancy when Major General Kumar was assassinated near his home in Chandigarh in November 1988.

His killing returned to headlines in 2023 when Khalistan Commando Force (KCF) chief Paramjit Singh Panjwar, the prime accused in the murder, was shot dead in Lahore. While that violent chapter has closed, the threat from the rivers remains a lasting challenge.

Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, who has toured the affected areas, has described the current situation as unprecedented. On Thursday, he stated that deputy commissioners of flood-affected districts would further intensify the pace of relief and rescue operations, HT reported.

The official death toll in the Indian Punjab remains in single digits, a stark contrast to the more than 200 fatalities reported across the border in Pakistan’s Punjab region due to the same weather system, which has also caused major damage in Himachal Pradesh and Jammu & Kashmir.