About 5,600 people have died in flash floods, mainly due to excessive rainfall incidence, cloudbukes and glacial lakes, which are mostly Uttarakhand State Disaster Management Authority (USDMA) data shows in five districts of Uttarakhand since 1970. It consists of 4,127 people who were killed in the Kedarnath Flash Flood of June 2013.
On Tuesday, at least four people died and several others were reported to be disappeared in Dharali village of Uttarkashi district to the north of 200 km north of Dehradun, as several multi-storey houses were brought down with debris in Kheer Ganga river with a sudden debris with heavy water.
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The incident is not in isolation.
Uttarkashi falls in the Central Himalayan region which has seen continuous extreme rainfall. Studies in USDMA have shown that the districts of Uttarkashi, Chamoli, Rudraprag, Bageshwar and Pithorgarh are highly unsafe for the effects of cloudbers or excessive rainfall, whose intensity is rising with temperature in the Himalayan region, as they recently fall into the high seismic main central emphasis (MCT) sector.
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According to the National Center for Sisamology, Uttarakhand recorded 17 earthquakes since January 2025, out of which 14 were in MCT which cover Uttarkashi, Rudraprag, Bagheshwar and Chamoli districts. The Uttarkashi seismic region is in the IV and the other three districts fall in Zone V.
“Region rocks are highly delicate in nature because due to many emphasis and defects. Geophysics and physical, high relief differences, standing slopes, thick overburdans and streams are the general features of features in the field,” said Sushil Khanaduri of USDMA in a paper published in the International Journal of Earth in 2022.
His study states that the Garhwal-Kumon Himalayas are unsafe for cloudburst or excessive rainfall, when monsoon clouds are interrupted in the main Himalayas, clouds move upwards (up to 9 km), formed with a flat base with dense comonimbus clouds). “This is caused by moist thermodynamic instability and rapid dynamic lifting of the cloud by step topography,” he said, it is given as a reason for the northwest Himalayas that is looking at excessive rainfall or high frequency of cloudbursts.
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A study on excessive rainfall in Uttarakhand by the Department of Science and Technology in 2022 caused extreme rainfall due to expansion of glacial lakes and extreme damage due to its explosion during the monsoon. It is no longer clear whether the disadvantage in Dharli village was due to excessive rainfall or a combination of heavy rains with the explosion of a glacial lake.
Uttarakhand has 118 high -height lakes located in Chamoli, Pithorgarh, Rudraprayag and Uttarkashi districts. Among them, the maximum of 60 Chamoli are in the districts, followed by 32 in Uttarkashi. “These lakes are fed by glacier melted water because the maximum muzzle is located in areas and also receive sufficient rainfall during monsoon,” the study states.
Khanduri said that a combination of factors is making excessive rainfall incidence or cloudbukes fatal. “We have seen the intensity of excessive rainfall in recent years due to climate change. The peak top has received sudden rainfall for 10–15 minutes due to high temperature volatility. Boulder and top soil grow for continuous earthquakes caused low rainfall with hiberts as well as hiberts, along with hiberts.
Various studies on the effects of extreme rainfall in the state have blamed the combination of factors such as a combination of factors such as humiliated forest cover to change the road widening in the area and to change the middle debris -laden slopes near the vertical slopes during building construction. Furious, unplanned constructions on the natural water-bodies of rivers and streams, such as Dharli village, has caused heavy loss of human life.
“It would be unjust to say that our planners and policy makers are not aware of the sensitivity of the Himalayan region, but it seems that awareness has been masked by pressure to use Himalayan resources for development and has to provide easy and rapid access to the road network.
