The silent Himalayan killer behind Nepal's flood

The Himalayas have long been a region fraught with hidden dangers, and Nepal's recent flood has once again brought attention to one such threat: rock-ice avalanches. These avalanches, capable of triggering devastating floods far downstream, are often triggered by factors other than heavy rainfall, such as permafrost thaw, seismic activity, and unstable bedrock.

Scientists at the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) are investigating whether a rock-ice avalanche triggered the August 26 flood in Nepal's Rasuwa district. The cascading pattern of rock-ice avalanches leading to destructive floods is not new to the region, with a similar event occurring in the Chamoli disaster of 2021 in Uttarakhand.

The increasing threat of these avalanches is exacerbated by climate change, which is altering glacial mass balance and thawing permafrost, heightening the risk of extreme events.

Brief written by urgent.news from The Economic Times's own syndicated text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.