Cloudburst and heavy rains caused such havoc from the hills to the plains, which made the views of the Holocaust come out, even more fears were stood with indiscriminate development.
The black clouds of Bhadrapada suddenly started showing a rage, who had forgotten for a few years or used to rain so much that Bhado’s scary images were also disappeared in the proverb. Glory would have been high and growing up and erasing settlements by dwarfing, the rivers started drowning the earth in such a way that human civilizations arose to shed the excuses. If this outbreak increases, then is it a pre-indication of the Mahapralaya? Or a sign of nature, mountains, clouds, rivers, earth being angry? Or a scary form of adverse climate change of life on the earth on earth, exploiting and indiscriminate construction of perceived development? Whatever it is, the wrath or anger of nature reached the seventh sky. In Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Northeast, the incidents of clouds of the Himalayas increased wildly this year, while in plains like Rajasthan, Punjab, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, floods were seen to be in different floods.
Havoc: Vehicles and struggling people stuck on a submerged road in Agra
Punjab has never seen such submergence in recent memory. All 23 districts are facing floods. 1,400 villages have been drowned, more than 35 people have died and about 4 lakh people have become homeless. It is being described as the most severe flood after 1988. Floods in Rajasthan have also ended about 200 lives. According to the state government, so many people have never died in floods during one year. In Bihar too, dozens of villages flowed due to the rivers cut. The Kosi river is called a curse anyway.
Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Delhi and Assam have all been trapped by floods. The condition of the hilly areas is more scary. On 5 August 2025, the flood due to sudden heavy rains in Dharli in Uttarakhand took hundreds of lives. On August 14, more than 60 people died due to heavy rains in Kishtwar district of Jammu and Kashmir. The story of Himachal Pradesh is worse. From Chamba to Manali, Himachal Pradesh is facing horrific monsoon destruction this time. The situation is uncontrollable from delicate mountainous regions like Lahaul-Spiti and Kinnaur to Mandi and Kangra. More than 820 link roads have come to a standstill. National Highways and Fourlane roads have been demolished everywhere. Between 20 June and 16 August, 261 people have died due to floods and landslides. The same situation is in hilly states like Sikkim, Assam and Arunachal Pradesh.
Usually, the cause of this destruction in the mountains is called cloud bursting. Today the question is why the incidents of cloudburst are increasing so much and why are there such destruction? Just consider that in the Dharali of Uttarakhand, the villages do not flow, but the rash and the sharp flow of the river, and the hotels built in its banks and in the Cachar and the new urban settlement and all were swept away. A similar view was seen in the Kedarnath Valley in 2013, where all the settlements made from insensible against the natural structure were swept away. Then the high -level Madhav Gadgil Committee of the Supreme Court had banned all the so -called development and hydroelectric projects. But what happened? More large constructions stood up in Kedarnath and roads and industrial projects continued unabated in Uttarakhand and the harvesting of forests continued to grow. Now similar questions are also standing in Badrinath for construction work and sabotage, where reports of land collapsing in many places keep coming out. Similarly, indiscriminate construction has been going on for the last few years under the Chardham Project and the wheels are being pierced for eight lane roads despite the environmental warning to construct an authorized four -lane road. The ghats on both sides of Alaknanda are broken and if the water level of Alaknanda rises in the coming days, then there is a big danger of floods.
Such growing disaster
These examples are full, the entire Himalayan region is happening from Jammu and Kashmir to the Northeast, which is becoming like calling the destruction. According to the Geological Survey of India (GSI), 12.5 percent of the country’s area is flooded or where there is a possibility of floods. According to a report by the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), an average of 75 lakh hectares of land is affected every year due to floods. There is a loss of both life and goods in these areas. Every year an average of 1,600 lives and a loss of Rs 1,805 crore. The flood of this time is how huge, it can be gauged from the fact that this year, there is a loss of Rs 1,400 crore due to floods in Punjab itself.
Flood impact on life and property
The biggest question is what is the reason for the increasing intensity of floods? Is it natural or because of human activities? For this, we have to add many links. Dr. Anil Kumar Outlook, a scientist and water resource expert at Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology, Dehradun, tells that according to the figures of the Meteorological Department from 1971 to 2024, the intensity of rain has increased more than before. That is, now a lot of water is raining in a short time, due to which the pressure on the river drains is increasing. He gives the example of the incident in Dharli, saying that there was no cloud torn in Dharali. The upper part received more than 200 ml of rain in 24 hours. 200 ml rainfall is not high in 24 hours, but its intensity was high. Earlier, weak slopes began to collapse. In the top parts, the soil and stones deposited near the glacier (called Moren) and the pre-loose debris (sedens) started flowing below the rain. As a result, flood -like conditions arose in glaciers and many houses were destroyed. This is the reason from Kedarnath to Dharali.
Senior writers and experts in Himalayan regions Hridayesh Joshi show the important role of climate change behind these incidents from Outlook. According to him, due to increasing temperature in the Himalayan regions, it is also raining in places where it was not before. Earlier, at a height of four thousand meters, rain was less or not. But now in these places, rain is also getting more intense, due to which the rivers are filling water and the results are also coming out due to encroachment in the areas of rivers.
For these reasons, states like Punjab, Rajasthan and Haryana are submerged and the devastation on the mountains is seen standing at the door all the time. Talking about the plains, the most important reason for the flood here is indiscriminate and unbalanced development. From NITI Aayog and Central Water Commission to judiciary, the encroachment in the field of rivers, harvesting of trees and extinct ponds and wells in cities have expressed concern about shrinking wetlands. Governments were also reprimanded many times over urban flood management. But everything has been unheard.
Dams and mismanagement havoc
According to Hridayesh Joshi, “Flood management in cities is very bad. There were more than 100 ponds in Delhi. All were filled. Somewhere the mall was built, some road, somewhere a building was built.
Himanshu Thakkar, Coordinator of South Asia Dam, River and Peepal, also associates floods with the mismanagement of dams. According to him, the horrors of floods can be reduced by taking action ahead of time. He told Outlook, “In the years 2017 and 2023, Bhakra Nangal Dam and Sardar Sarovar Dam in 2017, 2020 and 2023 were given warnings. But no one would get lice in their ears. Later these places were flooded and there was heavy damage.” They also add its operation to the dam mismanagement. According to him, “The operation of the dam is also not done in a systematic manner. The dam should not be filled before the rain. The dams in Punjab and the surrounding were already filled before the rain and as soon as the rain had to be released. It was the time when the dam should be used to stop water.” However, they further say that I do not say that only large dams are responsible for the flood, but yes, if they were used properly, many floods could have been stopped.
Actually, the effect of floods is multidimensional. It has not only human and economic but also social influence. Disaster Management Expert Dr. Eliya Jafar tells Outlook that every flood has the most affected weaker section. Children leave school, families are homeless and communities constantly devastate. Not only this, businesses come to a standstill and roads are submerged. Schools become community shelters to avoid floods. She further says that this happens frequently, every year. In such a situation, the poor are always poor due to floods.
Reversal of politics
It is worried about the government and politics but with comfort. However, the government does not believe that there is something like cloudburst. He argues that when there is more than 100 ml of rain in an hour in one place, it is called cloud bursting. But neither did this happen in Dharali nor in Jammu and Kashmir. On the other hand, there may not be any preparation for how to reduce the damage caused by floods, but politics has become hot in flood affected states. While the BJP is accusing the Punjab government of negligence, AAP national convenor Arvind Kejriwal is accusing Prime Minister Narendra Modi of not helping Punjab. They believe that help is being sent to the earthquake affected Afghanistan but not Punjab. In a video message, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi demanded the Prime Minister to release help in Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Jammu and Kashmir. In Rajasthan, the opposition is preparing to bring a no -confidence motion to decide the accountability of floods against the government. Floods in Bihar also increased a lot of political stir. But at the moment there is a halt. Now I got free time, then the Prime Minister has also reached Punjab to see the flood.
Waver of projects
Today, many reasons are making floods and land collapse. In the last two decades, there has been rapid urbanization in tourist centers like Manali, Shimla, Rishikesh and Gattok as well as remote mountainous villages. According to the 2011 census, Himachal Pradesh’s urbanization rate was 10 percent and Uttarakhand’s 30.2 percent. In the hilly areas, the forest area has also decreased from year to year. In Himachal Pradesh, 50 thousand more trees have been harvested in 10 years. Hydropower projects have also hurt the mountains deeply. More than 50 small and big projects are running or under construction in Uttarakhand itself. Scientists at the Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology have repeatedly warned that blasting to build a tunnel, turning the path of rivers and destabilizing the dam construction mountains. But still this continues.
Climate change outbreak
The 2019 report of the International Center for Integrated Mountain Development warned that even if global warming was limited to 1.5 ° C, one-third glaciers of the Himalayas would melt by the end of this century. Gangotri Glacier has retreated 1500 meters since 1935. The Hindu Kush Himalayan range is 3500 km long. If the Earth’s temperature rises by 2 degrees Celsius, it can end 75 percent of its glaciers by 2100. This will further increase the possibilities of flooding in rivers like Ganga and Brahmaputra.
Whether it is urban floods or water in the plains, to some extent, indiscriminate urbanization, encroachment in the flood area of the river, cutting of trees and climate change arising from them are responsible.
The reason, whatever, natural orgy cannot be stopped, but its loss can be reduced. But the question is whether our machinery is so capable? Hridayesh Joshi says, “The forecast of IMD is not completely reliable. Doppler Vedar radars hold a signal for 500 km. But do not make accurate estimates at a particular place.”
According to Anil Kumar, institutions never want disasters. The accidents in the sage Ganga and Dhauli Ganga taught us a lesson. ISRO is monitoring the glacier. IMD has started monitoring lakes. Work is underway on the automatic weather station and early warning system. Heavy tenders have been extracted. In the coming time, better monitoring will be possible.
As it is, it is true that climate scientists are raising a lot of questions about the inadequate monitoring of weather and meteorological parameters in the upper areas of the Himalayas. For example, the Indian Geological Survey has recorded more than 9575 glaciers in the Himalayas, yet less than 30 glaciers study. At the same time, there are 28000 lakes in Indus, Ganga and Brahmaputra valleys. But ISRO is monitoring only those lakes whose area is more than 25 hectares. But events also occur in small lakes. Questions arise on the government’s disaster management institutions and lack of communication.
Questions also arise on the court that he does not show much strictness. Experts say that the court forgets by issuing an order. The news does not matter whether his orders were followed or not. The biggest example of this is the World Culture Festival organized by Art of Living in 2016 on the flood area of Yamuna. DDA was allowed for the event. The expert committee constituted by the NGT said in the report that the event caused heavy damage to the flood area of Yamuna. Initially a committee recommended a fine of Rs 100–120 crore, but in the end the NGT imposed a fine of Rs 5 on the organizer. Then the survey of the event, Sri Sri Ravi Shankar had said that “I will go to jail but will not pay the fine.”
To call these disasters natural is like meaningless. This is the culmination of the greedy development of the exploitation of the earth, which causes havoc on the poor, who remain outside the scope of alleged development.
In the case, Ashwani Sharma’s report from Shimla
