The days after heavy rains caused a lightning flood and an avalanche of debris that drew Dharali in Uttarkashi, Uttarakhanda, prevails, the uncertainty prevails over what caused the disaster.
On Thursday (August 7, 2025), rescue and auxiliary operations in Uttarkashi to extract those that have stuck, and the accounting of those who are missing meant that scientific investigation into the cause of the disaster has not yet begun.
Follow Utarkashi Flash Flash Floods Rescue Operation Live Adgrapes
“We are planning a survey, but currently access to websites is difficult. Data on the collision we have from the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) suggest that it was not cloudburst,” said Vineet Kumar Gahalaut, director of the Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology, Dehradun. “It is possible that there is an overflow of glacial lakes or heavy rains triggered by a landslog of collected mud and debris,” he said.
IMD also characterized “extremely heavy rainfall” from 3 to 5 August as a probable cause, but not as cloudburst.
“Cloudburst” is a more extreme form of precipitation, defined by IMD as exceeding 10 cm per hour after 10 km. grid A is the result of the accumulation of moisture forming large clouds of kumulonimbus, which suddenly release all their water.
These causes depend on the growing cases of Himalayan disasters that have caused extreme precipitation and changing climates, help better understand potential causes and design warning systems.
While Cloudbursts are not unexpected due to the predominant monsoon conditions, they are forecast demanding and require specific tools, including Doppler weather (DWR), which can imagine them, as well as automatic meteorological stations (AWS), which can provide clock, temperature, wind and humidity. There are three DWR (DWR) in Uttarakhand, but they leave huge sections of the upper Himalayas among them. AWSS data is not publicly shared.
Data on IMD deductions, which are publicly shared, indicate only eight hours or 24 -hour precipitation data. On August 5, the day UtTarkashi Floods, Dogs for Uttarakhand, for example, showed that Haridwar (Haridwar) reported 30 cm of rain in the previous 24 hours; Narendranagar (Garhwal Tehri) reported 17 cm; Rishikesh (District Dehradun) 14 cm; Jolly Grant (District of Dehradun) 13 cm; and Kotdwara (Garhwal Pauri) 12 cm. Although it is a significant rain, it is not known whether it has been concentrated for a short time or diameter for one day.
“Although the data that we have still do not indicate cloudburst, I cannot completely exclude it,” said M. Mohapatra, CEO, IMD. “Theoretically, it is possible that there was cloudburst in the upper range (Himalayas), where we do not have tools. Satellite images and other long -distance surveys could provide certain answers and I believe that the National Agency for Management Coordinates a certain investigation.”
Suhora Technologies, based in Noida, said “Cloudburst” is probably the cause because their analysis has shown that there are no lakes fed by glacier or large water formations that spilled. “We have a Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) Imaging From the Iceye satellite and Checked upstream of dharali. There is no glacier Lake or water points. We have a look look Look Look Look Look Look Trigger, ”Subhajit Bera of Suhora Technologies Said, Adding,“ However, We Don’t Have Images from the Upper, so I don’t know the exact causes.
“The steep terrain around the village of Dharali, where it occurred to the tragedy, acted like a slip, accelerating mud and debris into a deadly rush. Like the monsoon tragedy in 2024, it is in the warm western Ghats because they also become monoish grapeny. land landslides.
In February 2021, the ice rock avalanche north of Joshimath in Uttarakhand, claimed 72 lives, with hundreds of missing and two water energy projects destroyed or damaged. In October 2023 in the northern Sikki, the lake glacial in northern Sikkim burst damaged the water energy teesta-3 in the state and claimed at least 40 lives.
Published – August 20, 2025 06:27
