Manali’s right bank swept into Beas as torrential rains batter northern India

A furious torrent of rain carved through the heart of Manali on Friday, with the right bank of the popular Himachal Pradesh town virtually washed away and reduced to a riverbed. Homes, hotels and roads were swept into the Beas as unrelenting downpours turned the mountainside into a scene of ruin.

The disaster formed part of a wider pattern of devastation across northern India. In neighbouring Uttarakhand, at least five people were killed and 11 reported missing after cloudbursts unleashed landslides that buried homes beneath rubble. The districts of Chamoli, Rudraprayag, Tehri and Bageshwar bore the brunt.

In Bageshwar’s Pausari gram panchayat, the State Disaster Management Authority reported that two lives were lost, three people went missing, and one was pulled out alive though injured. In Chamoli’s Mopata village, a couple perished when a landslide engulfed their home.

These tragedies come close on the heels of the Tharali disaster of 23 August and the earlier Uttarkashi flash flood of 5 August, which flattened much of Dharali, a key halt on the road to Gangotri.

Further north, Jammu and Kashmir endured unrelenting rain. The pilgrimage to the Vaishno Devi shrine in Katra remained suspended for the fourth day in succession, following the landslide at Adhkuwari earlier this week that claimed 34 lives and injured 20 more. Heavy rain continued to lash the Trikuta hills, making resumption of the yatra unsafe.

The Jammu–Srinagar National Highway too remained shut for the fourth day, paralysed by landslides in the Udhampur–Ramban belt. Over 2,000 vehicles stood stranded along the 270-km stretch, the only all-weather link to the Valley.

The plains were no less troubled. In Punjab’s Patiala, the administration issued an alert for low-lying villages along the Ghaggar river after heavy rainfall in its catchment. In Ferozepur, floodwaters still swamped nearly 16,000 acres of farmland, leaving 62 villages struggling with the deluge.

In Maharashtra’s Latur and Nanded districts, torrential rain disrupted daily life, forced schools to shut, and prompted authorities to call for army assistance in rescue operations.

Scientists warn that such back-to-back calamities are no coincidence. The India Meteorological Department has recorded a rise in extreme rainfall events during the monsoon season, while the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change cautions that Himalayan states face heightened risks from cloudbursts, glacial lake outbursts and landslides in a warming climate. Rampant deforestation, reckless construction and unchecked tourism in ecologically fragile mountain zones are further amplifying the damage.

For thousands left homeless and stranded, the science offers little comfort. As families mourn the dead, and fields and businesses lie submerged, the monsoon once again underscores the urgent need for climate-resilient planning and a renewed respect for the limits of fragile landscapes.