Deluge in Himalayas

By C. K. Nayak

It has left a trail of death and devastation as well as rendering many areas inaccessible. More than 120 people have lost their lives and thousands have been stranded. Houses, bridges, highways are being just washed away by the gauging flood water swelled by rains. Landslides and rockslides are burying human habitations and motor vehicles are seen sailing like boats in the swirling flood water.

It is an irony that the national capital New Delhi is inundated on a record scale. According to the India Meteorological Department, torrential rains across the country in the first week of July have already produced about 2% more rainfall than normal. The agency has forecast more rain across large parts of northern and North Eastern India in the coming days. The region has received disproportionately high rains. The summer, or southwest, monsoon brings India about 70% of its annual rainfall. It is crucial for the nation’s agriculture, which accounts for just 11% of India’s total economic output, but employs over 40% of its labour force. Scientists say the rainfall, like all other natural nature’s creation , is hard to forecast and varies considerably. But rapid climate change is making the monsoon stronger and more erratic, increasing the frequency and ferocity of the floods.

It is quite evident from the fact that the maximum destruction has taken place in the areas where mega infrastructure projects, massive road widening were undertaken in recent years. Experts attribute the devastation to soil vulnerabilities, failed drainage systems, dumping of huge debris in the rivers, and unchecked illegal mining at the river beds. They describe it as human induced devastation of the Himalayas, a planned disaster indeed. The 16th century Panchvaktra temple at Mandi was submerged under water but survived but the 100-year-old Pandoh bridge was washed away. The fifty-year old Aut bridge in Kullu collapsed to the river’s fury. Tourist town Manali was ravaged, wrecked and turned into a ghost town. Moreover, the course of rivers was diverted to build dams for hydro- power projects. The course has already been narrowed down with debris and the surface usually filled- up with silt, raising the water level. In some cases, even the rivers have changed course due to banks damaged by illegal mining and other manmade factors.

In neighbouring Uttarakhand, continuous rainfall, flash floods and landslides have caused severe damage to several important roads—including the Dharchula-Tawaghat- Lipulekh road, which helps pilgrims visiting Kailash Mansarovar in Tibet—in Uttarakhand and hindered the movement of several trains on the Dehradun and Haridwar routes. Dehradun, Haridwar, Tehri, and Pauri districts, experienced very heavy to extremely heavy rains for a week. According to data provided by the state government, six state roads, eight district roads, two border roads and 223 village roads are blocked because of landslides or the falling debris. At least nine bridges were damaged in Haridwar itself. Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami who took several review meetings has requested everyone to maintain vigilance and avoid unnecessary travel for a few days. The administration has also been instructed to remain prepared to deal with any kind of situation.

Since the flood damage was much more in Himachal Pradesh, Chief Minister Sukhwinder Singh has asked the centre to declare the situation as a national disaster and provide immediate help of Rs 2,000 crore for emergency relief and restorations. The centre, so far, has released Rs 260 crore from the National Calamity relief fund. The Chief Minister himself camped at Kullu, which has helped to temporarily restore Chandigarh-Manali NHs. But, the Kullu- Manali road, which also connects Leh, has been swept away due to the flood fury in the Beas. It might take months to re-create the new alignment and cut down the mountains again. The government rescued and evacuated as many as 70,000 tourists stranded in Kullu-Manali and Lahaul-Spiti.

Human-induced climate change is already intensifying hydrological extremes in India, and the recent floods in parts of northern India are yet another example of how extreme events can be more disastrous in hilly regions than in plains,” Akshay Deoras, a research scientist at the United Kingdom’s National Centre for Atmospheric Science and the University of Reading’s Department of Meteorology, told Down To Earth Magazine. Deoras said extreme weather events were set to intensify as the planet continues to become warmer because of growing emissions of greenhouse gases.

In 2022, the Center for Science and Environment, a New Delhi-based public interest research and advocacy organization, tracked extreme weather events in India. It found out that India on the whole experienced extreme weather events on 314 out of the 365 days, meaning that one extreme weather event was reported in some part of India on each of these days. The report concluded that these events caused more than 3,000 deaths in 2022, affected about 2 million hectares of crop area, killed more than 69,000 animals used as livestock and destroyed roughly 4,20,000 houses.

The UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change also released a 2022 report painting a bleak picture for India. It warned that the country could face multiple climate change-induced disasters in the next two decades. Unless greenhouse gas emissions are drastically reduced by 2030, it will become impossible for Indian authorities to reverse an imminent climate catastrophe, it said. On the other hand, the heavy rains come after a heat wave that caused temperatures to soar to as high as 45 degrees Celsius (113 F) in large parts of India. At one point of time cool hill stations like Shimla experienced extreme heat. Even though the main summer months — from April to June — are always hot in India, temperatures have become more intense in the past decade.

Temperatures of up to 46 degrees are being measured in northern India. While people are trying their best to beat the heat, authorities say that at least 170 have died. Scorching heat in summer is not uncommon in northern India, but the current temperatures of up to 46 degrees are breaking all records. Further large states of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh government hospitals have run out of even stretches to forget about beds. The two states alone have reported 170 deaths, and hospitals are complaining about overcrowding and a lack of care. Flora and fauna are also suffering from the enormous heat. The current heat wave is not only affecting India, but large parts of Asia. But, against the backdrop of increasing extreme weather events, experts say the government needs to also focus on adaptation measures.

“More needs to be done for climate adaptation to prevent economic losses and food insecurity,” Sunita Narain, the director of the Center for Science and Environment, “We need to relearn land- and water-management strategies,” Narain said. “India has much to learn, from not building habitations in flood- vulnerable areas to channelling river water instead of taming rivers within embankments that invariably break or just do not work.” Apart from Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand, rains and floods have also affected all other parts of the Himalayas specially Jammu and Kashmir and North East. But the two hill states were the worst hit.