2025: A Year of Natural Disasters in Jammu and Kashmir

The outgoing year will be remembered not for one disaster, but for many. Rain after rain, slope after slope, the year kept returning with new reminders of how uncertain life is in the Himalayas.

- Mohammad Hanief

The year began silently enough. Then the rain came. And it kept coming.

2025 unfolded as an unrelenting season of warning bells for Jammu and Kashmir. Torrential downpours, sudden cloudbursts, flash floods and landslides followed each other with unsettling ease.

The year was marked by raging recurrence.

Rivers overflowed into unfamiliar places. Roads gave way moments after repairs. And families had to leave their homes again and again.

The region has always lived with risk. Steep slopes, restless rivers and loose soil are part of everyday geography here.

But what made 2025 different was the speed and scale of change.

Long dry stretches gave way to intense rainfall with little pause. Rivers swelled faster than memory allowed. Drainage systems failed because they were built for a climate that no longer exists.

The monsoon months carried the heaviest weight.

The Jhelum and its tributaries rose steadily in the valley, spilling into low-lying neighbourhoods and farmlands. Water stayed for days, soaking homes and orchards alike. Wetlands that once absorbed excess rain could no longer cope, narrowed over years by encroachment and neglect.

In towns, drains overflowed. In villages, fields turned into shallow lakes.