Heavy rains, floods and landslides in Himachal Pradesh ^{CEFR B2}

Over-construction in the Himalayas has been cited as a major factor making floods, cloudbursts and landslides more frequent and more severe. Heavy rains this year produced severe flooding in parts of Himachal Pradesh, with the Mandi district especially hard hit in June. The Himachal Pradesh Disaster Management Authority says about one third of the 173 people killed in the June floods were from Mandi.

Individual accounts illustrate the losses. Balaram Singh, a 72-year-old former land revenue official from Thunag, approximately 150 kilometres north of Shimla, had built his house away from the Beas river but the village was engulfed in June; he lost his son, daughter-in-law and two grandchildren and still remembers the voice of his 13-year-old granddaughter. Kamala Devi, 70, rebuilt a house after earlier damage but saw it badly damaged again this year, and her son, a taxi driver, lost his car and livelihood. On June 30 Bhupendra Chauhan, 33, a hardware store owner, said water rose quickly around his parked car; he rescued his children, aged 3 and 9, and they sheltered with about twenty people that night. Bhavana Thakur’s husband has not returned since June and their 7-year-old son asks about him daily.

Search and rescue operations continued until July using drones and sniffer dogs. Health workers, including Guddo Sharma, report rising post-traumatic stress symptoms such as disrupted sleep, heightened anxiety at rain, and a lasting fear of losing everything; volunteer Som Dev says community support helps people cope. Experts link much of the destruction to unplanned construction in active river and floodplain zones; Tikender Singh Panwar warned that building in active river and stream zones increases disaster risk. Material relief reached the region: the Indian army assisted, Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu announced INR 7 crore in July, and Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced INR 1,500 crore in September. A 2024 action plan on "Climate Change and Mental Health" was launched, but its effects on the ground are not yet evident. Many survivors try to stay busy to manage memories; Singh tends his fields and runs errands while the memories remain.