Can AI Shield Kashmir from Cloudbursts

Sudden, devastating cloudbursts have claimed lives across Jammu and Kashmir. Artificial intelligence and real-time monitoring could give residents crucial early warnings.

- Khalid Mustafa

The morning of August 14, 2025, in Chositi, Kishtwar, began like any other. Villagers prepared for the Machail Mata Yatra, pilgrims wandered the narrow mountain paths, and the sun shone over the peaks.

By 11:30 a.m., the sky darkened abruptly. Rain poured down in sheets, heavier than anything locals could remember.

Rivers overflowed, sweeping away homes, bridges, and roads. Landslides buried paths, isolating villages. Sixty-three people died. Dozens went missing.

Within minutes, entire villages were flooded by unstoppable torrents. But Kishtwar isn't alone in facing this danger.

Cloudbursts, sudden and intense rainfall events, have become a recurring terror across Jammu and Kashmir. These storms can dump over 100 millimeters of rain in less than an hour, overwhelming narrow valleys and mountain rivers.

Unlike ordinary rain, cloudbursts strike fast and with little warning. Human factors, like risky construction, weak infrastructure, and unprepared communities, make these natural events even deadlier.

The region's geography amplifies the danger. Kishtwar sits atop one of the most tectonically active zones in the world. The Indian and Eurasian plates have collided for 50 million years, pushing the Himalayas skyward. Steep slopes, narrow gorges, and sediment-filled rivers funnel rainfall at terrifying speed.

History offers grim reminders. The 2013 cloudburst in Kedarnath, Uttarakhand, claimed more than 5,700 lives and stranded thousands.

In both Kishtwar and Kedarnath, people were caught unprepared, without early warning systems.