Days after heavy rains triggered a flash flood and an avalanche of debris that deluged Dharali in Uttarkashi, Uttarakhand, uncertainty prevails over what caused the disaster.
As of Thursday (August 7, 2025), rescue and relief operations in Uttarkashi to extract those stranded, and accounting for those missing, has meant that scientific investigations into the cause of the disaster have not yet begun.
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“We are planning a reconnaissance but, currently, accessing the sites is difficult. Rainfall data that we have from the India Meteorological Department (IMD) suggests that this was not a cloudburst,” Vineet Kumar Gahalaut, Director, Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology, Dehradun, said. “It is possible that there is a glacier lake overflow or heavy rain triggering a landslide of accumulated silt and debris,” he said.
The IMD too has characterised “extremely heavy rainfall” from August 3-5 as a probable cause, but not a cloudburst.
