India, Aug. 9 -- Twenty days after she "escaped" her home with her two minor daughters, Nasiman Zaman returned on Sunday to find ankle-deep water still inside the house, along with a damaged wedding photo album, a shattered dinner set that had belonged to her late mother, and her daughters' toppled study tables with their belongings destroyed.

With water still standing in her home, Zaman said she remained uncertain about when her family could return to live there, and was more concerned about whether authorities could assure them the devastation would not recur when rains fall again.

"Our house is on the ancestral land of my husband's family. My brother-in-law's house is next to ours, and besides his is the house of their cousin. All ou...