A marauding herd of elephants is devouring standing ahu crops, the only means of livelihood for the flood-hit farmers of Majuli, giving the residents of the river island no other option than to witness the devastation in silence. Sources said that the elephants have been wreaking havoc in the saporis (sandbanks) in Phulonibari, Meragar, Salmara, Kathalkhua, Kathamia and Bonoria areas since the last couple of days. The villagers cannot muster the courage to drive away the jumbos taking shelter in the saporis due to the swelling of the Brahmaputra river, the sources pointed out. If they guard the fields, the devouring elephants may enter the villages in the vicinity of the saporis and cause still greater devastation, they added. Forest workers, too, cannot think of any foolproof strategy to chase away the elephants as the saporis have gone under water.