Reporting flood is much more than just images of people trapped in a sea of water. Most reports limit themselves to the facts provided by the state disaster management authorities and perhaps an aerial tour with a politician surveying the inundated places. To begin with, flood misery is largely due to abysmally poor management of embankments. Assam, for example, has 450 embankments that are giving way and need constant repairs. Community alert systems and disaster preparedness are weak in most districts. Lakhs of hectares of habitable and cultivable land have been eaten up by water and for decades, people are awaiting compensation. Livelihood lost and crops destroyed, families get into successive cycles of debt. Children must drop out of school because the schools shut down and are used as relief centres. This season also becomes the favourite hunting ground for human traffickers, preying on families with meager resource and many mouths to feed. Assam’s wildlife parks coming under water makes animals flee and making them vulnerable to poachers as well as speeding vehicles.