Flash floods in Nepal again: Warning bells for Himalaya, lessons for India

The Indian Express reports that a flash flood in Nepal’s Budhi Gandaki river has caused damage to infrastructure, with early reports pointing to a landslide above Siuribas that blocked the Chumke Khola stream or a temporary blockage near Chekampar breaking downstream. Experts suggest that the event was likely caused by a sudden release of water and debris, possibly from a glacial lake outburst flood or an avalanche involving ice and rock.

The high-altitude Himalayan terrain, which contains large quantities of loose material shaped by erosion and past glacial activity, plays a significant role in the formation of these floods. As snow melts and the cohesion between rock and ice ends, the loose material becomes mobilized by rainfall or a sudden release of water, resulting in a dense slurry that carries substantial amounts of sediment, boulders, and vegetation.

This contributes to the enormous force exerted on houses, bridges, and roads. The Gorkha flood appears less catastrophic than a similar event last month, possibly due to the wider valley and the location of settlements. The same broad categories of hazards exist across the Indian Himalaya, including Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Ladakh, Sikkim, and Arunachal Pradesh, but the precise mechanisms differ from one disaster to another.

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