The images from the devastating floods in Nepal were hauntingly familiar, recalling scenes from Sikkim in 2023, Uttarakhand’s Chamoli Valley in 2021, and Kedarnath in 2013. The disaster — in which flash floods swept away bridges and settlements in seconds — raises questions about the wisdom of expanding development in the Himalayas and the role of climate change in aggravating the region’s risks. Vaishnavi Chandrashekhar spoke to scientist Sher Muhammad , who leads cryosphere monitoring at the Kathmandu-based International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD), about what happened in Nepal and the challenges of early warning systems
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