At least five people died and many more were trapped under debris after a flash flood washed away a village in the northern Indian state of Uttarakhand on Tuesday.
Rescue teams from the State Disaster Response Force, the National Disaster Response Force, and the Indian Army were on scene in the Himalayan state looking for people feared trapped.
Footage aired by local broadcasters showed floodwaters rushing down a mountainside in Uttarkashi district before crashing into a hamlet in the foothills, tearing through houses and destroying a road.
"The search for the missing is ongoing," Mohsen Shahedi, deputy inspector general of the National Disaster Response Force, said.
More than 50 people were missing from the worst-hit town of Dharali, he said.
At least 11 army soldiers were also unaccounted for after being swept away from the nearby downstream village of Harsil.
Videos shot by tourists showed a violent stream sweeping away several houses and vegetation. “Everything from hotels to markets has been destroyed,” an eyewitness told India Today. “I haven't witnessed a disaster like this before."
The Uttarakhand police said rising water levels in the Harshil area of Uttarkashi posed a serious threat, warning residents via social media to stay away from rivers.
According to local officials, the flash flood was triggered by a cloud burst in the catchment area of the Kheer Ganga river at around 1.50am on Tuesday, leading to a massive debris slide in Dharali.
“The village was on a higher elevation, but the area was home to commercial activities such as hotels and shops. We have yet to ascertain the losses, but preliminary reports indicate severe property damage,” district magistrate Prashant Arya said.
“About a dozen hotels have been washed away and several shops have collapsed." he said, adding that the army and local police were searching for the missing.
Federal minister Sanjay Seth told news agency PTI that it was “a serious situation” and prime minister Narendra Modi and home minister Amit Shah were “closely monitoring it”.
“This is a natural calamity. We have received information about four deaths and around 100 people missing,” he added. “We pray for their safety."
VIDEO | Uttarakhand: Cloudburst causes massive destruction in Dharali Uttarkashi. More details are awaited.#Cloudburst #UttarakhandNews
— Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) August 5, 2025
(Source: Third Party)
(Full video available on PTI Videos - https://t.co/n147TvrpG7) pic.twitter.com/vFx2rEUHvv
The cloudburst also triggered a massive landslide, cutting off connectivity to the popular Hindu pilgrimage site of Gangotri.
Mr Modi offered his condolences to the people affected by the incident. "I pray for the well-being of all the victims,” he said. “Relief and rescue teams are engaged in every possible effort. No stone is being left unturned in providing assistance to the people.”
Uttarakhand chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami said he was in constant touch with officials involved in rescue work.
"The news of heavy destruction caused by the cloudburst in Dharali is extremely saddening," he added. “We’re doing everything possible to save lives and provide relief.”
The National Disaster Management Authority said it had requested three helicopters from the federal government to assist in the rescue and relief operations as rescuers struggled to access the remote terrain.
Sudden intense downpours over small areas known as cloudbursts are increasingly common in Uttarakhand, a Himalayan region prone to flash floods and landslides during the monsoon season.
Cloudbursts can wreak havoc by causing sudden flooding and landslides in mountainous regions.
More than 6,000 people died and 4,500 villages were affected when a similar cloudburst devastated Uttarakhand state in 2013.
Experts warn that cloudbursts are growing in number and intensity partly because of climate change while damage from storms is increasing because of unplanned development in mountain regions.
The flash flood in Uttarakhand is the latest in a series of disasters to batter the Himalayans, which span five countries, in the last few months.
Flooding and landslides due to heavy rains and melting glaciers have killed more than 300 people in Pakistan, according to the country's disaster management agency.
In 2024, Asia recorded 167 disasters in Asia – storms, floods, heat waves, and earthquakes - which was the most of any continent, according to the Emergency Events Database maintained by the University of Louvain, Belgium. These led to losses of over £24 billion, the researchers found.
A 2023 report by Nepal-based International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development found that glaciers were melting at unprecedented rates across the Hindu Kush and Himalayan mountain ranges.
The study found that at least 200 of the nearly 2,000 glacial lakes in the region were at risk of overflowing, which could cause catastrophic damage downstream.
Additional reporting by agencies.
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