Produced by: Manoj Kumar
Across the Himalayas, thousands of glacial lakes are swelling—and bursting. Melting ice is turning valleys into ticking time bombs, with flood risks rising every year.
In India’s Himalayas alone, over 190 glacial lakes are now considered high-risk. They’re dammed by crumbling debris walls that could collapse without warning.
In 2023, a wall of icy water from South Lhonak Lake swallowed bridges, barracks, and lives in minutes. The wave hit with the force of a tsunami—and almost no one saw it coming.
Glacial lake floods have surged fivefold since 1950. The last 50 years alone account for 70% of all recorded events, pointing to a climate-fueled trend that’s only accelerating.
Over 2 million Indians live downstream from these lakes. Entire towns, power stations, and pilgrimage trails lie in the path of potential disaster.
Glaciers here are melting ten times faster than ever before. As they retreat, they leave behind unstable lakes—growing in silence, ready to unleash chaos.
When a glacial lake bursts, it doesn’t trickle—it detonates. Massive waves of water and rock crash downhill like an alpine tsunami, leveling everything in their path.
These floods don’t just kill—they ruin. Crops vanish, roads wash out, power grids fail, and ecosystems collapse, leaving long-term trauma in mountain communities.
India and its allies are scrambling to install early warning systems and drain risky lakes. But the terrain is brutal, the clock is ticking, and prevention is still far behind the pace of the threat.