'NUMB, AND UNABLE TO ACT

As disasters grow more frequent, I find myself wondering how long I can continue living here, waiting for the next storm

- MEGHA PRAKASH

It was the sort of night that signals trouble. The sky roared past midnight, lightning ripping through swollen clouds. Unable to sleep, I stood on the balcony of my home in Dehradun, unease building with each passing hour. I packed a small bag with my laptop, charger and a few essentials, ready to leave at a moment's notice if conditions worsened. I must have dozed for an hour when my phone rang. A massive cloudburst in Sahastradhara area in the early hours of September 16, 2025, triggered flash floods in the seasonal rivers that run through Uttarakhand’s capital, sweeping away buildings and roads. Having grown up in Dehradun, I can say with some confidence that this was the first time rainfall-driven flooding in the city’s rivers caused destruction on such a scale.