As heavy rain battered the Pir Panjal mountains in the early hours of July 19, Haji Mohammad Latief ventured outside his residence in Murrah, a secluded village in Indian-administered Kashmir. His daughter had urged him to relocate the family vehicle to a safer area as the downpour intensified.
“I had just parked it,” Latief recounted. “When I looked back, I saw the water rushing toward me.” Just moments later, a sudden cloudburst unleashed a torrent of mud, rocks, and water from the mountainside.
At 48 years old, Latief had dedicated years to building a home that had sheltered five generations of his Gujjar family. In an instant, the deluge engulfed the structure, trapping eight family members inside. He narrowly escaped because he had stepped outside. By sunrise, the family’s lifelong efforts lay in ruins.
When a reporter from the Guardian visited Murrah four days later, the area remained without electricity, roads, or mobile service. Floodwaters had obliterated pathways and footbridges, leaving the only access to the village a challenging 90-minute trek over debris and through rain. Residents were seen transporting sacks of flour, gas cylinders, and medicine across the damaged terrain.
Situated high in the Pir Panjal range above Bafliaz in Poonch district, about 125 miles (200 km) southwest of Srinagar, Murrah is predominantly inhabited by the Gujjar community, one of the largest nomadic groups in the Himalayas. Their livelihoods have historically relied on livestock, agriculture, and seasonal migrations through the mountains.
The landslide-prone hillside remained too dangerous for heavy machinery to reach. Soldiers, disaster response teams, and local volunteers meticulously searched the debris by hand, while others scoured the swollen Suran River for missing individuals.
Currently, Latief resides with his brother, Mohd Bashir, just above the site of the landslide. Inside, women gathered to grieve, while men quietly welcomed visitors offering their sympathies. Verses from the Qur’an resonated throughout the house.
As mourners assembled, word spread that another body had been discovered several miles downriver. The somber atmosphere fell silent as a funeral procession moved through the village.
Among those searching was 45-year-old Mohammad Razak, who had spent four days combing the river with a team of volunteers. “We’ve searched every bend of the river,” he stated. “We’re still hopeful of finding them.”
Murrah was severely impacted by a series of cloudbursts, flash floods, and landslides that struck Jammu and Kashmir this month, resulting in at least 28 fatalities. Experts note that rising temperatures are increasing the frequency of intense rainfall events across the western Himalayas. In steep terrains, such rainfall can lead to swift flooding and landslides, heightening the risks for remote communities. The climate crisis is exacerbating existing geographic and social vulnerabilities in these mountain areas.
The devastation extended well beyond Murrah. Approximately 30 miles away in Rajouri, the Manawar Tawi River overflowed, sweeping away roads, numerous vehicles, and the main bus station in Bela.
Low-lying areas along the river were inundated with mud and debris. Several homes collapsed throughout the Pir Panjal range, livestock were swept away, and hundreds of families faced displacement.
Further north in Gurez Valley, near the border with Pakistan-administered Kashmir, residents report experiencing similar patterns. A cloudburst in Achoora village on July 20 damaged the crops of 11 families and obstructed the valley’s sole road.
Locals are noting that increasingly unpredictable rainfall is disrupting agricultural practices and threatening traditional livelihoods. This follows a series of cloudbursts that have affected Gurez and neighboring Tulail over the past month, damaging homes, farmland, bridges, and roads.
Heavy downpours have also caused catastrophic floods and landslides in Ladakh and across the border in Pakistan-administered Gilgit-Baltistan, raising alarms that erratic weather patterns are impacting communities throughout the western Himalayas.
The International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) has reported that the western Himalayas are facing frequent bursts of intense rainfall that can induce floods, landslides, and cloudbursts. Accelerated glacier melting is expected to heighten flood risks in the near term while diminishing water availability in the coming decades.
“Mountain communities confront a dual challenge—excess water at times and scarcity at others,” stated an ICIMOD expert. “Adaptation requires a comprehensive approach, simultaneously managing flood risks and water shortages.”
ICIMOD emphasizes the need for community-based early warning systems, the establishment of additional weather stations in high-altitude regions, the restoration of damaged watersheds, and the design of roads and infrastructure that can withstand future climatic conditions rather than relying on historical weather data.
Dr. Suheel Rasool Mir, a sociologist based in Kashmir who studies Indigenous communities in Jammu, Kashmir, and Ladakh, pointed out that pastoral communities are often the first to suffer the consequences of erratic weather, as their livelihoods are intrinsically linked to forests, rivers, grazing pastures, and seasonal migrations.
“For the Gujjar, Bakarwal, and Dard-Shin communities, these disasters extend beyond mere natural hazards,” he explained. “As climate extremes become more frequent, they not only lose their homes and livestock but also the ecological knowledge and ancestral ways of life that have supported them for generations.”
