The way it has rained in North India in the past two weeks, it seems the nature is enraged, infuriated with an intention to reclaim it’s territory being gradually defaced by man for his selfish interest! Unrestrained monsoon rains have unleashed some of the worst flooding and landslides in decades across northern India, displacing hundreds of thousands people. Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, as well as Punjab, are among the worst affected. Punjab has seen the worst of floods in decades. One of India’s key agricultural regions, crops and livestock in Punjab have been destroyed beyond imagination with crops on 1.71 lakh hectares been damaged. Union agriculture minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan who visited the state on Friday would be submitting a detailed report on the Punjab flood situation to Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the flood-hit areas.
The spiralling effect was seen in Delhi and nearby regions being hit by rising rivers and heavy rain. Thousands were moved to safer ground as the Yamuna had breached danger levels. Commuters braced heavy and never-ending jams between Delhi and Gurgaon after floodwaters submerged roads.
Apparently, it’s the climate change which is seen as a key reason for the monsoon’s unpredictability, leading to the heavy rains in August and September. According to the experts, the South Asian region, which is among the world’s most densely populated and also among the most vulnerable to climate impacts, will need to better prepare for rain-related disasters as their frequency and intensity increase.
In Uttarakhand’s Dharali, geologist-turned-campaigner Navin Juyal’s warning that concrete embankments would not shield the town from the Kheer Ganga’s fury if upstream events roused the Bhagirathi tributary came true when on August 5, persistent rain upstream triggered a deluge that unleashed torrents of water, mud and boulders into Dharali, a pilgrim stopover en route to Gangotri, flattening hotels, homes and vehicles. The deluge was so dreadful that no one will ever know the exact damage in terms of human lives and others. The rains didn’t bring disaster to Dharali alone. Days later, cloudbursts hit Chamoli and Rudraprayag, also in Uttarakhand, burying homes and cowsheds. Overflowing glacial lakes in July damaged several hydropower dams and destroyed a key bridge connecting neighbouring Nepal to China.
Authorities have documented 36 cloudbursts, 74 flash floods and at least 70 landslides in Himachal Pradesh since the start of the 2025 summer monsoon. The steep slopes and fragile high-altitude terrain of Himalayan states like Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand make them particularly susceptible to these increasingly frequent deluges.
According to the scientists and campaigners, the havoc across Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh has been fuelled not only by extreme rain episodes but also by unrestrained road development that disregards the fragile Himalayan terrain. For more than five years, Juyal and others have urged the Union surface transport ministry to redesign its 2016 project to widen the 889km Char Dham highway for all-weather access to Yamunotri, Gangotri, Kedarnathand Badrinath. “Faulty and unscientific widening of the highway has increased the risk of landslides,” said Hemant Dhyani, an environmental activist and member of a high-powered committee (HPC) set up by the Supreme Court in August 2019 to scrutinise the CharDham project.
Rapid urbanisation, deforestation and poorly planned infrastructure have worsened flooding. The drainage systems have been destroyed. Rivers are mismanaged. When intense rainfall coincides with such vulnerabilities, disasters like these become inevitable.
Climate experts said smart planning and rebuilding in climate-vulnerable regions must include accounting for multiple risks, installing early warning systems, preparing local communities for disasters and, when needed, relocating infrastructure. Countries need to do more to plan for such events in the future, as their frequency will only increase. Time to payback to the nature by leaving it undisturbed and in serenity.
