Toll of India Himalayan flood likely to be at least 70

Toll of India Himalayan flood likely to be at least 70
by AFP Staff Writers
New Delhi (AFP) Aug 12, 2025

Indian officials say at least 68 people are unaccounted for a week after a deadly wall of icy water swept away a Himalayan town and buried it in mud.

On top of four people reported to have been killed, it takes the likely overall toll of the August 5 disaster to more than 70 dead.

Videos broadcast by survivors showed a terrifying surge of muddy water sweeping away multi-storey apartment blocks.

Disaster officials said Tuesday that they were searching for corpses in the wreckage of the tourist town of Dharali in Uttarakhand state.

Gambhir Singh Chauhan, from the National Disaster Response Force, said sniffer dogs had identified several sites indicating there was a body but when "when digging started, water came out from below".

Chauhan said teams were also using ground penetrating radar in the grim search.

More than 100 people were initially reported as missing.

But with roads swept away and mobile phone communications damaged, it has taken rescuers days to cross-check the list.

The local government now lists 68 people as missing, including 44 Indians and 22 Nepalis. Nine soldiers are on the list.

Deadly floods and landslides are common during the monsoon season from June to September, but experts say climate change, coupled with poorly planned development, is increasing their frequency and severity.

Climate change experts warned that the disaster was a "wake-up call" to the effects of global warming.

No official cause of the flood has been given, but scientists have said it was likely that intense rains triggered a collapse of debris from a rapidly melting glacier.

Himalayan glaciers, which provide critical water to nearly two billion people, are melting faster than ever before due to climate change, exposing communities to unpredictable and costly disasters.

The softening of permafrost increases the chances of landslides.

Deadly Indian Himalayan flood likely caused by glacier collapse, experts say
New Delhi (AFP) Aug 7, 2025 - A deadly wall of muddy water that swept away an Indian Himalayan town this week was likely caused by a rapidly melting glacier exacerbated by the rising effects of climate change, experts said on Thursday.

Scores of people are missing after water and debris tore down a narrow mountain valley, smashing into the town of Dharali in Uttarakhand state on Tuesday.

Several people could be seen in videos running before being engulfed as waves uprooted entire buildings, leaving others smothered in freezing sludge.

At least four people have been confirmed killed, but at least 50 others are missing.

Government officials said shortly after the disaster that the flood was caused by an intense "cloudburst" of rain.

However, experts assessing the damage suggested that it was only the final trigger, adding to days of prolonged rains that had already soaked and loosened the ground.

P.K. Joshi, of New Delhi's Jawaharlal Nehru University, an expert on Himalayan hazards, said it appeared the flood was caused by the collapse of debris -- known as moraine -- that had dammed a lake of meltwater from a retreating glacier.

"Given the persistent rainfall over preceding days and the sudden discharge observed, a glacial lake outburst flood (GLOF) or collapse of a moraine-dammed lake is suspected as the primary trigger," Joshi told AFP.

That would have contributed to a "sudden high energy flash flood", he said, noting that glacial terrain upstream of the town included "unstable sediment zones".

Cloud cover has obstructed satellite imagery to check for the exact source of the debris, and Joshi cautioned that there was not enough satellite data for a "definitive confirmation".

- 'Disaster severity' -

Safi Ahsan Rizvi, an adviser to the National Disaster Management Authority, also said that it was "likely" that the cause was a "glacio-fluvial debris landslide".

Sandip Tanu Mandal, a glaciologist at New Delhi's Mobius Foundation, also pointed to the "possibility of a GLOF", caused by "significant water accumulation in the lake due to increased melting and rainfall".

Mandal noted that while heavy, the amount of rain immediately before the flood was "not very significant" in comparison to the vast volumes of water that poured down the valley.

That would indicate the source was a potentially collapsing lake.

Himalayan glaciers, which provide critical water to nearly two billion people, are melting faster than ever before due to climate change, exposing communities to unpredictable and costly disasters, scientists warn.

The softening of permafrost increases the chances of landslides.

Joshi said the latest disaster "highlights the complex and interconnected nature of Himalayan hazards".

Rapid development and building downstream meant that the damage caused was multiplied.

"The land use patterns in the floodplain exacerbated the disaster severity," Joshi said.