(Image: Mukesh Gupta / Reuters)
This temple in the city of Jammu has been swamped after the river Tawi in India-administrated Kashmir burst its banks.
This latest round of severe flooding has submerged hundreds of villages and killed more than 120聽people in the region. 鈥淭his is an unprecedented situation [and] we are doing the best we can under the circumstances,鈥� tweeted , the chief minister of the Jammu and Kashmir state, on 7聽September. 鈥淧lease don鈥檛 panic, we will reach you, I promise.鈥�
Advertisement
Flash floods have been common in the Himalayas for centuries, but the time between each event appears to be shortening under climate change. As the climate warms, the Himalayas are projected to receive more monsoon rain. In combination with melting glaciers, flooding is expected to worsen.
The region鈥檚 inhabitants have been left highly vulnerable by poor communication systems and a lack of monitoring mechanisms, which make it difficult to forewarn communities of imminent flooding.
The flash floods have also hit neighbouring Pakistan, where . Thousands of homes there have collapsed and more than 205 people have died.
