The Floods That Changed Everything
August 2025:
Over late August and September 2025, the monsoons floods ravaged, Jammu & Kashmir and Punjab. Battling nature’s fury and after weeks of relentless rain that turned rivers into raging torrents, sweeping away homes and farmlands, entire communities that were preparing for harvest saw their fields in knee-deep water and watched with anguish the fruits of their labour disappear.
In the remote valleys of Jammu & Kashmir, cloudbursts and landslides cut off access to mountain communities. Homes collapsed under the weight of powerful and furious streams water and mud. Bridges and roads were broken, leaving families isolated and without basic supplies. For children and the elderly, every day continues to be a struggle for food, water, and safety.
In Punjab, whole villages lie submerged. Families are stranded on rooftops or crammed into makeshift shelters, their farmlands and livestock washed away. For many, this is the worst flooding in decades, an unthinkable blow just before harvest season.
The devastation is not just physical; it has torn away people’s sense of security. Mothers wonder how to feed their children, farmers face an uncertain future without crops, and families who once lived with little now have nothing left at all.
SEEDS is on the ground .
Phase 1: Relief That Reached Those Who Needed It Most
SEEDS scaled up relief efforts to reach 1,000 families each in Fazilka, Punjab and Samba and Jammu in the State of Jammu & Kashmir. Our teams are on the ground providing safe drinking water, hygiene kits, utensils, dry ration, and shelter kits to help families take their first steps towards recovery. These essentials are a lifeline for those who have lost everything to the floods.
Phase 2: Recovery and Resilience
The floods did more than destroy homes, they disrupted every layer of life. Across the worst-hit areas, they tore through schools, wiped out farmland, and left thousands of families without a way to earn a living.
In Jammu and Samba districts alone, more than 2,000 schools were damaged, including hundreds that suffered severe structural impact. Classrooms are filled with silt and debris, furniture has rusted beyond use, and sanitation facilities are no longer functional. Many school buildings, though still standing, are unsafe to occupy without urgent repairs. For children already facing weeks of disrupted learning, the absence of safe classrooms threatens to push their education further out of reach.
Livelihoods have been equally hard hit. Layers of silt now cover once-fertile fields, making traditional farming almost impossible without restoration support. Farmers have lost not just a harvest but their means to sustain their families. With livestock gone and farmland unproductive, incomes have vanished overnight.
Initiating our recovery plan – we aim to go beyond rebuilding what was lost. We will focus on helping families and communities emerge stronger, safer, and more resilient in the face of future climate shocks.
- Safe Schools: SEEDS will work with the Department of School Education to conduct structural assessments and rebuild three-five of the most affected schools in a phased manner. These will include classrooms, furniture, and facilities to bring children back to safe, functional learning spaces.
- Livelihood Revival: With crops destroyed and soil heavily silted, many families face an uncertain future. We aim to introduce alternative, sustainable livelihood models like backyard poultry and climate-resilient agriculture to help families rebuild income.
- Safer Homes and Communities: We are supporting with transitional shelters for families who lost their homes and exploring community-level flood protection measures such as jute bunds to prevent future inundation.
How can you help?
Your support today can help families move from crisis to recovery.
Restore a family’s livelihood - ₹20,000
Help introduce backyard farming, poultry or alternative income sources to build long-term resilience.
Give a family a home - ₹1,50,000
Support the construction of a transitional shelter for a family whose home was washed away.
Help rebuild a school - ₹25,00,000
Support the reconstruction of safe classrooms and facilities for children in the most affected schools.
Every ₹1,000 you give brings a family one step closer to recovery.
For further information, contact: Ranita Sarma, Regional Manager | fundraising@seedsindia.org