The flash flood that flattened Dharali village this week is the latest in a deadly pattern of natural disasters in Uttarakhand. Flash floods and landslides have claimed 705 lives in the hill state over the past decade, with flash floods alone killing 389, disaster management data shows.
As per details accessed by TOI, 316 people lost their lives in landslides during the same period. The twin disasters — both typically triggered by intense rainfall, glacial activity or cloudbursts — have emerged as the most lethal consequences of the region’s rapidly changing climate. Overall, nearly 3,500 people have died in incidents of natural disasters in Uttarakhand in the last 10 years, the data shows.
The alarming death toll aligns with recent scientific studies that flag Uttarakhand as a hotspot of extreme hydro-meteorological events, with increasing frequency and intensity since 2010.
A study published in the Journal of the Geological Society of India in July warned of a sharp spike in cloudbursts, flash floods and surface runoff events across the state over the past 15 years.
The study examined 140 extreme hydro-meteorological events recorded in nearly four decades of climate data, most clustered between 30°–31°N latitude and 79°–80.5°E longitude — a zone aligned with the Main Central Thrust (MCT), a major geological fault line.
Rudraprayag and Bageshwar districts emerged as key hotspots, owing to the region’s geological fragility and the influence of orographic lifting.
“From 1998 to 2009, the state experienced unusually low rainfall and rising temperatures. But post-2010, extreme events like flash floods and cloudbursts have surged,” said YP Sundriyal, lead author of the study.
An Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report on ‘Changes in Climate Extremes and their Impact on the Natural Physical Environment’ notes that climate change is altering the frequency, intensity, spatial extent, duration and timing of weather extremes — leading to unprecedented events.
Published in Natural Hazards, another study by IIT Gandhinagar researchers warns that flash floods — sudden, high-intensity events triggered by extreme rainfall — are becoming more frequent and severe across India. Titled ‘Drivers of Flash Floods in the Indian Subcontinental River Basins’, the study documents the emergence of flash floods in regions previously considered low-risk.
The western Himalayas face added risk from cloudbursts and snowmelt, which often trigger localised floods, debris flows and landslides, according to authors Vimal Misra, Nandana Dilip K and Urmin Vegad.
They also highlight a rise in intense, short-duration rainfall in the lower Himalayas.
The Himalayas, west coast and central India have emerged as key flash flood hotspots, with steep terrain and dense drainage systems in the Himalayas intensifying the threat.
Experts say the growing risk from extreme weather events demands urgent action — including climate-resilient infrastructure, updated dam design standards, district-level early warning systems and a halt to unchecked development in hazard-prone zones.
