Uttarakhand floods expose South Asia’s rising monsoon danger

The Nepali government is scrambling to find dozens of its citizens who are thought to be missing after a series of landslides and flash floods ravaged the northern Indian state of Uttarakhand –  a tragedy that scientists deem a result of a larger change in South Asia’s monsoon patterns brought by climate change.

Foreign Minister Arzu Deuba assured that Nepal’s embassy in New Delhi maintains continuous communication with Indian authorities and local officials in the impacted areas.

Four people from the Jwalamukhi Municipality in Dhading, 15 from Jajarkot and Jumla, and four from Bardiya are among the unaccounted for.

Before contact was lost, some of the missing posted videos of floodwaters rushing, according to family members.

Cloudburst triggers devastation

A violent cloudburst over Dharali Bazaar on Tuesday, August 5, caused the calamity, sweeping away homes, bridges and hotels as it sent water and debris rushing through villages.

Heavy rain and obstructed roadways have hindered rescue efforts, according to a report by local news outlet The Kathmandu Post.

The Uttarakhand floods, according to climate experts, are a reflection of a troubling trend: warmer air, brought on by warming global temperatures, can contain more moisture, resulting in shorter, more powerful rainfall bursts.

Both urban and rural regions experience flash floods as a result of these downpours overtaxing drainage systems and riverbanks.

“We are witnessing a clear climatic shift in monsoon patterns across South Asia,” Roxy Matthew Koll, a climate scientist at the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology, told the Associated Press in an earlier interview.

“The frequency and intensity of extreme rainfall events are increasing, often overwhelming drainage infrastructure in urban areas and triggering flash floods,” Koll added.

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Melting glaciers increase flood risks

Over 200 Himalayan glacier lakes are in danger of rupturing, a vulnerability exacerbated by heavy rainfall, according to a 2023 research conducted by the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development.

“A lot of mountain areas tend to have more warming than the global average, resulting in more glacier meltings,” Miriam Jackson, a glaciologist at the International Cryosphere Climate Initiative, told AP.

This poses a risk to the lives and livelihoods of people in Nepal’s mountain regions.

Jackson warns that without major cuts to greenhouse gas emissions, Himalayans will face “more intense rain and floods”, which at some point, “could go beyond the limits of adaptation.”

As a response, Lumbini Province Chief Minister Chet Narayan Acharya, has demanded a national assessment of disaster preparedness and urged funding for sophisticated early warning systems, river embankments and evacuation facilities.

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