Mountainous regions in India and Pakistan have been battered by a series of devastating cloudbursts in recent weeks, unleashing chaos, destruction, and heartache across both countries. These sudden and violent weather events have left hundreds dead, entire villages flattened, and communities scrambling for relief as the monsoon season brings increasingly unpredictable and extreme rainfall. The scale of the tragedy is staggering: in Pakistan’s northwestern district of Buner alone, as many as 300 people lost their lives after a cloudburst triggered flash flooding, landslides, and mudflows, according to the Associated Press.
The destruction has not been limited to Pakistan. In the northern Indian state of Uttarakhand, a cloudburst earlier this month sent floodwaters surging down a mountain, crashing into the Himalayan village of Dharali. Local television footage showed torrents of water sweeping through the area, leaving devastation in their wake. The memory of the 2013 disaster, when a similar cloudburst killed more than 6,000 people and affected 4,500 villages in Uttarakhand, still haunts the region.
Kashmir, a region divided between India and Pakistan, has also been hit hard. At least 18 people were killed and many more injured in both Indian- and Pakistan-administered Kashmir due to flash floods, landslides, and cloudbursts in mid-August 2025, as reported by NDTV and Geo News. In India-administered Kashmir, five people died from flooding in Jodh Ghati, and two more were killed in a landslide in Janglote during the night between August 16 and 17. Union Minister Jitendra Singh, a member of Parliament from Jammu and Kashmir’s Udhampur, confirmed that a railway track, National Highway-44, and a police station were also damaged. He stated, "The civilian administration, military and paramilitary have swung into action. The situation is being continuously monitored."
Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah expressed his grief over the loss of life and directed officials to carry out urgent relief and rescue operations in the cloudburst and landslide-hit Kathua district. Just days earlier, more than 50 people were killed and over 100 injured after flash floods triggered by a cloudburst struck Jammu and Kashmir’s Kishtwar during an annual pilgrimage to the Machail Mata temple. At least 82 people remain missing, underscoring the scale of the ongoing crisis.
Pakistan-administered Kashmir has faced similar devastation. Eleven people were killed as cloudbursts and relentless downpours triggered flash floods and landslides on August 15 and 16, 2025. The country’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province reported an even grimmer toll, with 314 deaths attributed to flash floods, according to Geo News.
So what exactly is a cloudburst, and why are they so deadly in this part of the world? A cloudburst is defined as an intense, sudden downpour—more than 100 millimeters (about 4 inches) of rain within an hour—over a small area of around 30 square kilometers (11.6 square miles). It’s the meteorological equivalent of a rain bomb, where the contents of a cloud are discharged all at once. The result: walls of water, landslides, and mudflows that can flatten homes and sweep away entire communities in a matter of minutes.
Several atmospheric factors combine to create the perfect storm for a cloudburst. Warm, moist air rises rapidly, high humidity and low pressure destabilize the atmosphere, and convective clouds form over the mountains. The towering Himalayas, Karakoram, and Hindu Kush mountain ranges act as barriers, trapping moisture-laden clouds and preventing them from dispersing. When the clouds can no longer hold their load, they burst, unleashing torrents of rain in a short span.
The geography of India and Pakistan makes them especially vulnerable. These regions have all the ingredients for cloudbursts: abundant moisture from the Arabian Sea and Indian Ocean, dramatic mountain ranges, and the seasonal monsoon. Traditionally, South Asia experiences two monsoon seasons—June to September and October to December. But as the Associated Press notes, climate change has disrupted these patterns, leading to intense flooding punctuated by dry spells rather than steady, predictable rainfall.
Experts are sounding the alarm that the frequency and severity of cloudbursts are on the rise, fueled by a warming atmosphere. Each 1°C rise in temperature allows the air to hold about 7% more moisture, increasing the potential for heavy rainfall in short, violent bursts. Khalid Khan, a former special secretary for climate change in Pakistan and chairman of the climate initiative PlanetPulse, put it bluntly: "Rising global temperatures have supercharged the hydrologic cycle, leading to more intense and erratic rainfall. In our northern regions, warming accelerates glacier melt, adds excessive moisture to the atmosphere, and destabilizes mountain slopes. In short, climate change is making rare events more frequent, and frequent events more destructive."
Environmental degradation is compounding the crisis. Deforestation and the loss of wetlands reduce the land’s ability to absorb water, making flash floods more likely and more severe. Melting glaciers and snow in the mountains are altering local weather patterns, making rainfall events more erratic and extreme. The warming of the Indian Ocean and Arabian Sea is pushing even more moisture into the atmosphere, setting the stage for further disasters.
One of the most frustrating aspects of cloudbursts, for both residents and officials, is how difficult they are to predict. Asfandyar Khan Khattak, a Pakistani official from the northwest province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, explained, "There was no forecasting system anywhere in the world that could predict the exact time and location of a cloudburst." Even in Buner, where an early warning system was in place, the downpour struck so suddenly and with such intensity that residents had no time to react.
Despite the challenges, some precautions can help reduce the risk. Community organization SOST, based in Pakistan’s Gilgit-Baltistan region, advises people to avoid building homes right next to rivers and valleys, to postpone travel to hilly areas if heavy rain is forecast, to keep emergency kits ready, and to avoid traveling on mountainous roads during heavy rain or at night. They also recommend afforestation to reduce surface runoff and enhance water absorption, along with regular clearing and widening of riverbanks and drainage channels.
Relief efforts in the wake of these disasters have involved both civilian and military forces, with emergency teams working around the clock to rescue survivors, provide medical care, and restore damaged infrastructure. Yet, as the death toll climbs and the frequency of such events increases, many in the region are left wondering how much longer they can weather the storm.
The recent cloudbursts in India and Pakistan are a stark reminder of the growing dangers posed by climate change and environmental mismanagement. For the communities living in the shadow of the world’s highest peaks, the stakes could not be higher—or the need for action more urgent.
