Apa itu Cloudburst dan mengapa dunia yang hangat membuat mereka semakin berbahaya? | berita

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Follow Sudden and intense bursts of extreme rainfall are causing devastation across mountainous parts of South Asia, triggering flash floods, deadly mudflows and huge landslides that have washed out entire neighbourhoods and turned vibrant communities into heaps of mud and rubble.

In northwest Pakistan, ferocious floods have crashed through villages, killing at least 321 people in the space of 48 hours, local authorities reported Saturday.

More than ten villages in the Buner region of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province were devastated by flash flooding, and dozens of people are believed to still be trapped under the thick mud and debris.

In India-administered Kashmir, at least 60 people were killed and more than 200 were missing when walls of mud and water gushed through the Himalayan town of Chashoti on Friday, according to Reuters news agency.

Earlier this month, another surge of flood water tore through a village in India’s mountainous Uttarakhand state, leaving at least four people dead.

In pictures: Pakistan's deadly monsoon floods 20 photos Mourners carry the bodies of flood victims in a village north of Muzaffarabad in Pakistan-administered Kashmir on August 15.

Sajjad Qayyum/AFP/Getty Images In pictures: Pakistan's deadly monsoon floods Mourners carry the bodies of flood victims in a village north of Muzaffarabad in Pakistan-administered Kashmir on August 15.

Sajjad Qayyum/AFP/Getty Images Emergency workers rescue a child from a flooded village following heavy rains in the Taunsa district of Pakistan's Punjab province on July 16.

Shahid Saeed Mirza/AFP/Getty Images Local fishermen in floodwaters near a partially submerged house during heavy monsoon rains in Rawalpindi, a city in Punjab Province, Pakistan on July 17.

Aamir Qureshi/AFP/Getty Images A bus carries people through floodwaters in Hyderabad, Pakistan, on July 14.

Jan Ali Laghari/Middle East Images/AFP/Getty Images Villagers sift through debris from homes damaged in a flash flood in Pakistan-administered Kashmir on August 15.

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Mughal/AP A street vendor protects himself and his goods with a plastic sheet during a rain storm in Lahore, Pakistan, on July 15.

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Chaudary/AP Local residents look a damaged portion of Karakoram Highway following a flash flood triggered by a glacial lake outburst near Gilgit, Pakistan, on August 10.

AP A resident collects his belongings from a flooded home in Hyderabad, Pakistan, on July 15.

Husnain Ali/AFP/Getty Images A man pushes a cart through the flooded streets of Hyderabad, Pakistan, on July 14.

Jan Ali Laghari/Middle East Images/AFP/Getty Images Residents and relatives pray for flash flood victims during a funeral in Sialkot, Punjab province, Pakistan, on June 28.

Aftab Rizvi/AFP/Getty Images Villagers are seen after flash floods and torrential rain tore through Gilgit-Baltistan, Pakistan, on July 25.

Hussain Ali/Anadolu/Getty Images Damage in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan after enduring flash floods, triggered by heavy rains, on July 24.

Hussain Ali/Anadolu/Getty Images Residents gather outside their flooded homes in Hyderabad, Pakistan, on July 15.

Husnain Ali/AFP/Getty Images A rescue worker clears debris from a collapsed roof after heavy rains hit Lahore, Pakistan, on July 10.

Arif Ali/AFP/Getty Images Commuters drive down a street in Islamabad, Pakistan, during heavy rainfall on July 6.

Aamir Qureshi/AFP/Getty Images A man stands among debris from a flash flood in Gilgit-Baltistan, Pakistan, on July 16.

Hussain Ali/Anadolu/Getty Images A resident uses a bucket to remove water from his home in Lahore, Pakistan, on July 10.

Murtaza Ali/AFP/Getty Images Motorists ride through a flooded road in Lahore, Pakistan, on August 3.

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Chaudary/AP People look down at flooded streets in Rawalpindi, Pakistan, on July 17.

Muhammad Reza/Anadolu/Getty Images Local residents look at the overflowing Swat River on the outskirts of Mingora, Pakistan, on June 27.

Sherin Zada/AP Prev Next In pictures: Pakistan's deadly monsoon floods Local authorities in both countries have said much of the deadly floods and landslides were triggered by sudden and violent bouts of torrential rain called cloudbursts.

Scientists say these extreme episodes of rain, be they cloudbursts or longer periods of torrential downpours, are set to get more frequent and ferocious in this ecologically fragile region as the climate crisis intensifies.

Here’s what to know.

What is a cloudburst?

Cloudbursts are sudden, highly localized downpours that can be destructive by the sheer volume of water they unleash in a short period of time, often triggering dangerous flash floods and landslides.

They occur in mountainous regions, especially during the monsoon season, when there is a lot of moisture in the air.

The areas that have been inundated by destructive rains and floods in recent weeks are in the foothills of South Asia’s giant mountain ranges that are home to the world’s tallest peaks and glaciers.

Monsoonal air hits those mountains, rapidly cooling as it rises and condenses into dense clouds that can then unleash torrents.

An aerial view shows houses partially submerged in sludge along a riverbed in the aftermath of flash floods at the Buner district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, on August 17, 2025.

Abdul Majeed/AFP/Getty Images The India Meteorological Department defines a cloudburst as having a rainfall rate over 100 mm (4 inches) per hour.

“The Himalayas, Karakoram, and Hindu Kush are especially vulnerable because of their steep slopes, fragile geology, and narrow valleys that funnel storm runoff into destructive torrents,” Roxy Mathew Koll, climate scientist at the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology, told Berita.

Residents in Pakistan’s hard-hit Salarzai described a torrent of mud and massive boulders that made the ground shake like an earthquake.

Why are they so devastating?

These extreme, localized bursts of rain are difficult to forecast.

“This is also a data-sparse region, whether we are studying cloudbursts or glacial outburst floods, making it harder to understand, monitor, and forecast these events,” said Koll.

“The storms are also too small and fast for precise prediction.” The region’s high poverty levels, a lack of infrastructure and access to basic facilities are also barriers to communicating what little information is available to communities who live there.

A girl sits outside of her family home, which was damaged following heavy rains and flooding in Pacha Kalay Bazar, in Buner district, Pakistan, on August 18, 2025.

Akhtar Soomro/Reuters “The bigger gap is not the technology gap, it’s the communication gap,” said Islamabad-based climate expert Ali Tauqeer Sheikh.

“Weaker governance and lack of early warning systems” in these regions have compounded the problem, he added.

Together with rampant deforestation and unplanned development, it’s a deadly combination.

“Because of very heavy deforestation, any torrential rain and cloudburst will result in landslides, mudslides, they’ll bring boulders and timber with them,” said Sheikh.

There are often heavy casualties because “a very high percentage of people live along the water bodies and the preparedness time is extremely limited,” he said.

How is the climate crisis making extreme rain worse?

Cloudbursts in the region have occurred with greater intensity and frequency in recent years, fuelled by record-shattering global temperatures.

Warmer air soaks up water like a sponge, and all this extra moisture can result in extreme rain and sudden downpours like cloudbursts, especially when that air meets the mountains.

“Warmer oceans are loading the monsoon with extra moisture, and a warmer atmosphere holds more water, fueling intense rainfall when moist air is forced up steep mountain slopes,” said Koll, from the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology.

During the southwest monsoon season, annual rains fall across parts of India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh brought by winds from the Indian Ocean and Arabian Sea, which have undergone rapid warming in recent years.

A shopkeeper removes mud and debris in front of his shop following Friday's flash flooding at a market in Pir Baba, an area of Buner district, Pakistan, on August 17, 2025.

Muhammad Sajjad/AP Before this year’s floods, prolonged heatwaves had baked the region.

“For each degree that’s higher than the average temperature, there’s 7% greater moisture in the air,” said Sheikh.

“If there’s a stronger heatwave in the South Asian subcontinent, in India or in Pakistan, we can assume the rainfall will be heavier.” Related article A volunteer pours water on a pedestrian's head to cool off during a hot summer day along a street in Karachi on April 5, 2025.

Rizwan Tabassum/AFP/Getty Images Extended heatwave in India, Pakistan to test survivability limits, with temperatures reaching Death Valley levels And melting glaciers are only adding to the disaster.

The massive ranges of the Himalayas and Karakoram region house thousands of glaciers, which are melting and losing mass at an increasingly rapid rate as the world warms.

“While glacial melt does not directly cause cloudbursts, it creates unstable lakes and fragile terrain that can worsen their impacts through floods and landslides,” Koll said.

How has climate change already affected the region?

Pakistan is responsible for less than 1% of the world’s planet-warming gases, European Union data shows, yet it is the most vulnerable nation to the climate crisis, according to the Global Climate Risk Index.

Climate change has already altered the landscape of the region.

“The monsoon itself is shifting under climate change, with longer dry spells punctuated by short, extreme bursts of rain — patterns that have already tripled heavy rainfall events across India in recent decades,” said Koll.

Pakistan suffered its most devastating monsoon season in recent times in 2022, when widespread flooding killed almost 2,000 people, displaced thousands and caused an estimated $40 billion in damage.

Men transport water bottles on a motorbike through a flooded street amid a downpour in Lahore, Pakistan August 9, 2025.

Mohin Raza/Reuters Deadly flooding has occurred every year since.

A recent study found that rainfall that hit Pakistan between June and July this year was heavier because of the climate crisis.

In Pakistan, the timing, location and quantity of monsoon rains has shifted so that that “average rainfall seems to have decreased in Pakistan, but the frequency of torrential rains has increased,” said Sheikh.

Drought and flooding can impact the country in the same month during the monsoon, so water availability is becoming more uncertain in a country already suffering a severe water crisis.

“That affects our food security and cropping patterns,” said Sheikh.

Related article Motorists ride through a flooded road caused by heavy monsoon rain in Lahore, Pakistan, Sunday, Aug.

3, 2025.

(AP Photo/K.M.

Chaudary) K.M.

Chaudary/AP Pakistan’s deadly monsoon floods were worsened by climate crisis, study finds The devastation and financial toll wrought by the floods in Pakistan, India and Nepal this year is what the climate crisis looks like at about 1.2 degrees Celsius of global warming since industrialization.

But the world is on track for around 3 degrees Celsius of warming by the end of the century, as humans continue to burn planet-heating fossil fuels.

And scientists warn every fraction of a degree of warming will worsen the impacts of the crisis.

Call for countries to pull together The Himalayas, Karakoram and Hindu Kush regions span eight countries and extreme weather events in one have a knock-on effect in another.

It is “super critical” for the governments of these South Asian nations to come together, said Sheikh.

“We face the same set of problems, and there are similar solutions,” he said.

“But our ability to learn from each other and learn each other’s scientific knowledge, communal knowledge, is absolutely handicapped.

And that is very damaging for us.” But already fraught relations between Pakistan and India deteriorated to their lowest level in years in May when the two sides escalated a long-running conflict in Kashmir, leading India to suspend a key treaty that governs the sharing of the waters of the Indus river that flows through both countries.

In this aerial picture, volunteers carry aid for residents, after flash floods hit Buner district in northern Pakistan's mountainous Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province on August 18, 2025.

Abdul Majeed/AFP/Getty Images “That’s why the Indus Water Treaty needs another lease of life to tackle emerging climate threats and challenges in the water sector,” he said.

For the millions of people who live downstream in India, Pakistan, Nepal and Bangladesh, building resiliency is key.

That means “avoiding settlements, construction, and mining in hazard zones, enforcing climate-resilient infrastructure, and strengthening early warning systems,” said Koll.

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