The NRSC satellite imagery revealed that the lake covered approximately 162.7 hectares. Its area increased to 167.4 hectares on September 28 but drastically reduced to 60.3 hectares.
'The trigger for the flood was definitely natural, but the damage that it caused was human-made.'
The flash floods in Nepal's Nuwakot district have left a trail of destruction, damaging homes, roads and infrastructure and disrupting lives.
'When a glacier collapse or a major flood event does occur, the water will simply reclaim its original path, and anything built in that path will be swept away.'
Sikkim has identified 40 high-hazard glacial lakes, with 16 at the highest risk of catastrophic outbursts. Following a devastating GLOF in 2023, the state is developing India's first dedicated GLOF Risk Mitigation Protocol, using advanced monitoring and interdisciplinary approaches to protect downstream settlements and serve as a model for other Himalayan regions.
Mini cloud bursts are marked by intense short spells which may not exceed 10cm in one hour-a classical definition by India Meteorological Department, he noted.
The rising water level in the Narayani-Gandak river following heavy rainfall in Nepal has increased the flood threat in villages along the river in Maharajganj district, officials said on Sunday.
According to the IMD, a rain event is categorised as a cloudburst if a weather station receives 100 mm of rain in one hour.
Tracing the remaining persons was proving a daunting task as the river remained in spate with over two lakh cusecs of floodwater gushing, sources said.
'This is no longer a single-hazard problem; it is a cascading, multi-hazard problem. A landslide never occurs in isolation. This entire chain is the cascading effect of what looks, at first, like a single disaster.'
At least 103 people were killed and another 370 injured when flash floods triggered by torrential rains struck this Himalayan town in Ladakh region, northeast of Jammu and Kashmir, leaving a trail of death and destruction.
Monsoon rains have unleashed widespread destruction across India, claiming seven lives in Himachal Pradesh and Karnataka due to landslides and floods, while heavy downpours have disrupted normal life and triggered red alerts in Maharashtra and other regions.
At least 60 people are said to have gone missing, but the number is likely higher, as many had gathered for the Har Dudh fair in Dharali village when the tragedy struck.
Helicopters are being used to airlift people stranded in Uttarkashi, Uttarakhand, following flash floods and landslides. Rescue operations are ongoing, with hundreds evacuated and efforts underway to restore connectivity and power.
After record rains wreaked havoc in Jammu and Kashmir over the past two days, the death toll in related incidents rose to 41, most of them victims of the landslide on a Vaishno Devi pilgrimage route, while there was some let-up in the showers on Wednesday, allowing relief efforts to pick up pace.
The shocking scenes of physical and psychological trauma unfolded on a massive scale as search and rescue operations were underway, digging out mud-buried bodies and rescuing the injured trapped in slush and rocks after flash floods triggered by a cloudburst devastated Chositi village in Jammu and Kashmir's Kishtwar district on Thursday.
The district administrations of Kangra, Mandi and Sirmaur have been put on alert following a warning for very heavy to extremely heavy rainfall at isolated places in these districts on Sunday.
A father and daughter in Himachal Pradesh displayed extraordinary bravery during recent flash floods, saving multiple lives. The floods caused widespread damage and loss of life in the Mandi district.
Cyclone Ditwah exits Sri Lanka after causing widespread destruction and over 120 deaths, heading towards the Indian coast. Heavy rains and high winds are expected to continue.
Seven rivers, including the Brahmaputra, were flowing above the danger level, even as the Regional Meteorological Centre (RMC) in Guwahati predicted heavy to very heavy rainfall at isolated places in the state.
The multi-agency search operation to trace 33 missing persons in cloudburst-hit Kishtwar district in Jammu and Kashmir has entered its eighth day. The death toll stands at 65, and rescue efforts are ongoing with the help of multiple agencies and heavy machinery.
Nine-year-old Devanshi was among the hundreds of pilgrims who had gathered in Chositi for the last leg of the yatra to Machail Mata temple when tragedy struck on Thursday. Buried under mud and debris when a Maggi-point shop was hit by flash floods, she emerged hours later, rescued by her uncle and other villagers.
Ten-month-old Neetika is the lone survivor of her family after a cloudburst in Mandi district. Her father died, and her mother and grandmother are missing. Neighbors are caring for the infant, and authorities are offering assistance.
'The lakes up there were already at the brink due to accumulated rainwater, and then snowmelt occurred.' 'When one lake breached, it triggered a cascading effect -- other lakes breached subsequently.'
Cloudbursts, flash floods and landslides have caused massive destruction in the area. More than 150 houses, 106 cattle sheds, 31 vehicles, 14 bridges, and several roads have suffered damage in the disaster.
'There is a clear relationship between the Char Dham road widening and these landslides.' 'The situation has further worsened with the massive influx of tourists whose number are running into several lakhs per month.' 'No parameters have been laid down to control tourist inflow and the result is that the Char Dham yatra has seen a sharp escalation in accidents and loss of lives.'
The recent flash floods and landslides triggered by heavy rain in north Bengal have caused massive destruction in at least 30-35 tea gardens in Darjeeling, with reports of loss of plantation areas, deaths of workers and damage to houses of labourers, prompting planters to convene a meeting to assess the situation, stakeholders said.
About 40 people went missing on Sunday after a lorry carrying about 50 people was washed away in flash floods in a rivulet in Guntur district as it was drying negotiate the flood waters over a bridge. The tragedy occurred when the toll in the continuing heavy rains and flood over the last two days has mounted to 59 -- 14 of them in the state capital Hyderabad and 13 in Krishna district.
'What we are witnessing is not a freak incidence or a freak occurrence, but a new climate reality where warming oceans, monsoon variability and local geography are combining to produce extreme events.'
The study by an international team led by scientists at the UK's Newcastle University is the first global assessment of areas at greatest risk of Glacial Lake Outburst Floods (GLOF). Published in the journal Nature Communications on Tuesday, it estimates that 15 million people around the world are at risk from flooding caused by glacial lakes.
To avert another Uttarakhand-type catastrophe, we must change course. We should stop pandering to the Indian elite's insatiable appetite for electricity, which is driving reckless dam construction, says Praful Bidwai
-- More than 800,000 homes and businesses are without power in Texas and Louisiana as of Thursday morning -- Laura's 150mph winds made it the strongest hurricane to strike the US this year and in Louisiana since 1856
The world organisation said UN humanitarians and partners were working hard to assist the people of Bangladesh and India suffering from the impact of the cyclone, which made landfall on Wednesday, wreaking havoc, causing high tidal surges, flooding and embankments to collapse.
A GLOF occurred in parts of Lhonak Lake, leading to a rapid rise in water levels with very high velocities downstream along the Teesta River Basin in the early hours of October 4. This resulted in severe damage in Mangan, Gangtok, Pakyong and Namchi districts.
The massive flood in the Dhauli Ganga river triggered by a glacial burst in Uttarakhand's Chamoli district on Sunday came as a grim reminder of the Kedarnath deluge of 2013 which led to widespread devastation in the ecologically fragile Himalayan region.
Gadgil and the report prepared by the Western Ghats Ecology Expert Panel (WGEEP) headed by him are back in news after over two dozen people lost their lives in landslides and flash floods in the past few days in the hilly regions of Western Ghats in central Kerala districts of Kottayam and Idukki.
A Rediff.com correspondent spells out the trail of destruction in Uttarakhand as it tries to come to terms with the catastrophic monsoons.
Union Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde on Tuesday said that he had asked the Uttarakhand government not to allow any VIP to land in the flood ravaged areas in the state to pre-empt any disturbance to relief work.
Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu said efforts are on to rescue the 300 stranded people, and they could be airlifted as the weather clears. Power and water supply has been snapped in several areas.
The toll in rain-related incidents since November one has risen to 249
