On June 27, pictures of a river covered with logs in Himachal Pradesh’s Mandi district after a flash flood triggered angry reactions and fresh calls to save the Himalayas. The logs from forest areas such as Jiwa Khad almost clogged the flow to Pandoh Dam in the district.
The logs underscored the devastation that Mandi and the neighbouring Kullu have faced over the past three years due to extreme rainfall and flash floods in narrow valleys along the Beas and its tributaries.
On July 9-10, 2023, heavy rainfall in Mandi damaged a national highway and submerged parts of Pandoh Bazar.
In Thunag Bazar, the assembly constituency of former chief minister Jai Ram Thakur, flash floods with heavy boulders and logs damaged homes and killed people.
Mandi worst-hit by extreme rainfall
In June and July, over 15 cloudbursts hit Pundoh and Thunag, leaving a trail of destruction.
Mandi is now probably the worst-hit district due to extreme rainfall events in the Himalayas. Almost one-third of the total 173 people killed as a result were from Mandi, as per analysis of the Himachal Pradesh Disaster Management Authority (HPDMA) data. The district also suffered maximum property damage this monsoon.
Mandi accounted for maximum deaths and injuries due to extreme weather events over the last two years, even as it did not receive the maximum rainfall in this period.
{{/usCountry}}Mandi accounted for maximum deaths and injuries due to extreme weather events over the last two years, even as it did not receive the maximum rainfall in this period.
{{/usCountry}}In 2023, Shimla, Solan, and Bilaspur districts received higher monsoon rainfall.
In 2024, Kangra received the maximum rain, followed by Mandi.
Despite lower rainfall, Mandi recorded 10 flash floods in 2023. It was the second highest after Lahaul and Spiti.
Mandi has recorded the highest flash floods so far in 2025, as per the HPDMA.
Ecology damaged beyond repair
Alleged unplanned development, especially during Thakur’s tenure (2017- 2022), has been blamed for the situation in Mandi district.
As the first chief minister from Mandi, Thakur implemented a series of development works in the district, especially in his constituency of Seraj, where Thunag is the epicentre of the damage.
Ecology has been damaged and, in some cases, beyond repair in the district. Some of the government buildings have come up almost on river beds. Building-retaining walls and many new multi-storey buildings have been built on or near natural waterways.
This prompted the present state government to issue an order in July, saying no government building should be constructed within 150 metres of a natural waterway (locally called a ‘nullah’).
Thakur’s tenure coincided with the construction of new roads connecting villages to highways or the widening of existing roads. The government widened the Chandigarh-Manali highway. In many places, such as Pandoh, it was widened by encroaching on the bank of the Beas. The Beas has washed away the highway at many places in the last few years, leading to the highway’s frequent closure.
Mistakes being repeated in Solan-Shimla
Residents cautioned the National Highway Authority of India against the unscientific road widening and its implications, but to no avail.
Similar mistakes are now being repeated on the Solan-Shimla national highway widening project.
If that was not enough, new multi-storey buildings have come up on or very close to the monsoon natural flows across the district. In many places, the natural flow of water has been blocked or diverted for construction despite the dangerous implications.
In the absence of a management policy, the debris from road and construction activity was mostly thrown into downhill streams, clogging them.
Studies show that siltation in Himalayan streams and rivers has increased due to deforestation and the increase in extreme weather events.
How blocked water channels
Higher silt flow and debris in these streams and rivers proved to be disastrous whenever there was heavy rainfall or extreme rainfall in the catchment areas. HPDMA data showed hundreds of homes in Mandi have been damaged in the past three years as science took a backseat in development.
As in most of the hill states, the wood management in the region is poor. The fallen trees and debris are rarely removed from the forest areas, which then get into the rivers during the monsoon. Boulders, stone debris, and logs in rivers and streams in Mandi this monsoon and the previous ones reflect this.
The unscientific development has had huge financial costs. As per the government estimate, damage worth ₹9,000 crores was recorded between 2022 and 2025, and 823 deaths.
A new road construction policy for the Himalayan states is needed to end this devastating cycle. At the state level, the government needs science-based norms for construction, road widening or construction, and tourist inflow. The local councils should be empowered to enforce these norms and impose penalties.