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First Post
4 days ago
- Climate
- First Post
Uttarakhand cloudburst: What makes Uttarkashi so prone to disasters?
Flash floods in Uttarakhand's Uttarkashi triggered by a cloudburst on Tuesday (August 5) have brought death and destruction. The district, which lies in the central Himalayan region, has often reported extreme rainfall events. It is also vulnerable to earthquakes and landslides. Experts say climate change and unregulated construction have worsened the disasters striking the hill state read more Search and rescue operation underway following flash floods triggered by a cloudburst, at Dharali, in Uttarkashi. PTI Uttarakhand has once again been struck by a disaster. At least five people died and dozens of others are missing after a cloudburst in Uttarakhand's Uttarkashi district on Tuesday (August 5) afternoon triggered flash floods and landslides. Swollen waters swept through the Dharali village, a tourist hotspot en route to Gangotri. A cloudburst in the Kheer Ganga river catchment area toppled houses, shops and other buildings. While rescue and relief operations continue, incessant rainfall and landslides have blocked the Gangotri Highway at several points, affecting the operations. Eleven soldiers are among the missing after a mudslide hit the Army camp in Harshil. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD This is not the first natural disaster to hit Uttarkashi, which is a vulnerable zone. But why? We will explain. Uttarkashi's topography Uttarkashi lies within the Garhwal Himalayas, mountain ranges dotted with unstable rock formations and rivers that are fed by glaciers. This topography makes areas such as Dharali, Harshil, and Gangotri susceptible to landslides, flash floods, and debris flows. More from Explainers Definition to frequency: 4 things to know about Uttarakhand cloudbursts The central Himalayan region has reported frequent extreme rainfall events in recent years. According to studies by the Uttarakhand State Disaster Management Authority (USDMA), the districts of Uttarkashi, Chamoli, Rudraprayag, Bageshwar and Pithoragarh are also highly vulnerable to cloudbursts, the intensity of which has increased with a surge in temperatures in the Himalayan region. A cloudburst is a sudden, intense downpour of rain that occurs over a small area in a short span of time, often leading to flash floods. Houses buried under debris following flash floods triggered by a cloudburst, in Uttarkashi district, Uttarakhand. @pushkardhami/X via PTI These districts also fall in the high seismic Main Central Thrust (MCT) zone that has witnessed many earthquakes in recent years, reported Hindustan Times (HT). 'The rocks of the area are highly fragile in nature because of a number of thrusts and faults. Geomorphologically and physiographically, high relief difference, steep slopes, thick overburden and streams are common characteristics of features in the area,' Sushil Khanduri of USDMA said in a paper published in 2022 in the International Journal of Earth Sciences. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Uttarakhand has 118 high-altitude lakes, of which 32 are in Uttarkashi. 'These lakes are fed by glacier melt water as maximum are located in snout areas and also receive enough precipitation during monsoon,' a study on extreme rainfall in Uttarakhand by the Department of Science and Technology in 2022 said, as per HT. Is climate change to blame? The impact of climate change is visible in India's hill states, especially Uttarakhand. Scientists warn that climate change is worsening the disasters, with glaciers in the state melting faster than ever. This is changing river flows and increasing the risks of glacial lake outburst floods (GLOFs), flash floods and landslides. It is well-known that climate change is making extreme weather events more common and intense. 'We have seen in recent years due to climate change the intensity of extreme rainfall has increased. There has been a sudden burst of rain for 10-15 minutes due to high temperature volatility in peak tops. The frequent earthquakes loosen boulders and topsoil increasing landslides across the Himalayan belt. The gush of heavy rain brings them down along with debris from slopes at high speed causing massive devastation,' Sushil Khanduri of USDMA said. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Or is it a man-made disaster? Unregulated construction in Uttarakhand is hurting its natural buffers that once protected the region from such disasters. Factors such as reduced forest cover and change of moderate debris-laden slopes into near vertical slopes during road widening and constucting buildings have been blamed for extreme downpour in the hill state, as per several studies. Unplanned construction on natural waterways of rivers and streams, including in Dharali village, has exacerbated the damage, experts say. They attribute the devastating impact of flash floods to unchecked constructions on the riverbed of Kheer Ganga, a tributary of Bhagirathi, as per HT. The Bhagirathi Eco-Sensitive Zone (BESZ), which spans from Gaumukh to Uttarkashi, is ecologically fragile. Experts say it is necessary to underline that only climate change is not responsible for the rise in such events in Uttarakhand. 'You can see the anthropogenic signature in every such disaster. In the videos, we can see hotels, big buildings right on the river bed. The river will take its route. It is only natural to expect that it will flow freely. Any hindrances to its flow will obviously cause disasters. The massive increase in the number of landslides is again completely linked to road construction on the Char Dham route,' Mallika Bhanot, environmentalist and member of Ganga Ahvaan, a civil society collective, told the newspaper. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Locals also point out that to boost tourism revenue, authorities are allowing unsustainable development. 'In the race to earn from tourism, tree felling and construction are happening at an unprecedented scale. There are no robust systems in place to manage disasters in vulnerable stretches of BESZ, despite the region having witnessed similar devastating floods in the past,' Suresh Bhai, an Uttarkashi-based environmentalist and founder of the Himalaya Bachao Andolan, told Times of India. With inputs from agencies
Hindustan Times
4 days ago
- Climate
- Hindustan Times
Vulnerable zone bears brunt of disasters
Close to 5,600 people have died in flash floods mainly caused by extreme rainfall events, cloudbursts and glacial lake overflows mostly in five districts of Uttarakhand since 1970, Uttarakhand State Disaster Management Authority (USDMA) data shows. This includes 4,127 people who died in the devastating June 2013 Kedarnath flash flood. Vulnerable zone bears brunt of disasters On Tuesday, at least four people died and several others were reported missing in Dharali village of Uttarkashi district around 200 km north of state capital Dehradun because of sudden heavy gush of water in the Kheer Ganga river at about 1 pm with tonnes of debris, bringing down several multi-storey houses at confluence of the river with Bhagirathi. The incident is not in isolation. Uttarkashi falls in the central Himalayan region that has witnessed frequent extreme rainfall events. Studies by USDMA showed that districts of Uttarkashi, Chamoli, Rudraprayag, Bageshwar and Pithoragarh are highly vulnerable to the impact of cloudbursts or extreme rainfall, whose intensity is increasing with temperature in the Himalayan region rising, as they fall in the high seismic Main Central Thrust (MCT) zone that has witnessed frequent earthquakes in recent years. According to the National Centre for Seismology, Uttarakhand recorded 17 earthquakes since January 2025, of which 14 were in the MCT that covers Uttarkashi, Rudrprayag, Bagheshwar and Chamoli districts. Uttarkashi is in seismic zone IV and other three districts fall in zone V. 'The rocks of the area are highly fragile in nature because of a number of thrusts and faults. Geomorphology and physiographically, high relief difference, steep slopes, thick overburden and streams are common characteristics of features in the area,' said Sushil Khanduri of USDMA in a paper published in 2022 in the International Journal of Earth Sciences. His study said that the Garhwal-Kumaon Himalaya is vulnerable to cloudburst or extreme rainfall as when the monsoon clouds are obstructed in main Himalayan range, the clouds rise upwards (sometime up to 9 km), form dense Cumulonimbus cloud (formed with towering mass with a flat base at low altitude). 'This happens due to moist thermodynamic instability and rapid dynamic lifting of cloud by step topography,' he said, giving this as a reason for north-western Himalaya witnessing high frequency of extreme rainfall or cloudbursts. A study on extreme rainfall in Uttarakhand by the Department of Science and Technology in 2022 also attributed expansion of glacial lakes and its bursting during monsoon due to extreme rainfall events as a reason for higher damage. It is not clear as of now whether damage in Dharali village was because of extreme rainfall or a combination of heavy rain with bursting of a glacial lake. Uttarakhand has 118 high altitudinal lakes located in Chamoli, Pithoragarh, Rudraprayag and Uttarkashi districts. Of them, maximum 60 are in Chamoli districts followed by 32 in Uttarkashi. 'These lakes are fed by glacier melt water as maximum are located in snout areas and also receive enough precipitation during monsoon,' the study said. Khanduri said a combination of factors are making extreme rainfall events or cloudbursts deadlier. 'We have seen in recent years due to climate change the intensity of extreme rainfall has increased. There has been a sudden burst of rain for 10-15 minutes due to high temperature volatility in peak tops. The frequent earthquakes loosen boulders and top soil increasing landslides across the Himalayan belt. The gush of heavy rain brings them down along with debris from slopes at high-speed causing massive devastation,' he said. Different studies on impacts of extreme rainfall in the state have attributed a combination of factors such as degraded forest cover to change of moderate debris-laden slopes into near vertical slopes during road widening and building construction for the onslaught of torrential rainfall in the region. Rampant, unplanned construction on natural water-ways of rivers and streams such as in Dharali village has led to huge 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 the awareness is masked by the pressure to utilise Himalayan resources for growth and providing easy and fast accessibility by developing road networks. Rapid and unplanned development is playing a key role in destabilising the Himalayan equilibrium,' said environmentalist Anoop Nautiyal.
