Jammu’s Floods Are Not Natural Disasters—They’re Policy Failures

Beyond cloudbursts and swollen rivers, Jammu’s floods reveal a deeper crisis - governance failures & gaps in policy.

Jammu and Kashmir flood: A man carries his wife on his back as he wades through water.

(Photo: Kanwal Singh/Altered by Vibhushita Singh/The Quint)

As the flood waters receded in Jammu & Kashmir, the true extent of destruction caused by recent incidents of climate crisis became painfully clear. Cloudbursts have swallowed villages, landslides have buried pilgrims on sacred paths, Land Subsidence has washed away villages, bridges have collapsed, roads are damaged, and most localities lie in devastation.

Countless families have lost everything and are left with nothing but tears and uncertainty. Several local NGOs in the Jammu region have risen to the occasion, extending relief and aid, yet the administration’s delayed and inadequate response has left many localities still wading through debris, struggling to return to normalcy.

Rice fields submerged in floodwaters near the International Border at Suchetgarh, RS Pura, Jammu.

(Photo: Kanwal Singh/The Quint)

The Human Toll

In Jammu and Kashmir, more than 100 lives have already been lost to cloudbursts, landslides, land subsidence and floods, while flash floods have ravaged over 1.4 lakh hectares of agricultural land.

Even two weeks after the torrential rains that submerged several mohallas in Jammu division, residents are still struggling to navigate through knee-deep muck and stagnant water, with no signs of relief or rehabilitation in sight.

Health experts are now warning of a looming public health crisis, as garbage heaps, contaminated drinking water, and the overpowering stench of decay fuel fears of a rapid outbreak of waterborne and vector-borne diseases.

Locals claim that despite numerous appeals for help, the administration's response has been slow and inadequate, leaving entire neighbourhoods exposed to disease and despair. While the administration claims it is trying its best, they are not prepared or ready to deal with such a disaster. 

Water supply to over four lakh people has been cut off after three important filtration plants on the Tawi River – Sitlee, Boria, and Dhounthly – were badly damaged by the massive floods. The main pipelines from Nagrota Sitlee to Jammu were washed away, leaving many without clean water. This should have been fixed on war footing, but the administration is still struggling to restore it, adding to the hardship of affected families. Apart from tanker supply, there is no alternative means to provide water to Old Jammu City.

Lessons Unlearned Since 2014 Floods

But shouldn’t we have been better prepared for such a disaster, especially considering that Jammu and Kashmir has been a Union Territory directly governed by the Centre for the past six years? Could the scale of devastation caused by these floods have been avoided?

The world-class skating rink in Peer Kho, Jammu, located on the banks of the Tawi River, has been completely damaged.

(Photo: Kanwal Singh/The Quint)

Eleven years after the catastrophic 2014 Kashmir floods, which submerged nearly 850 sq km of its area, flooded parts of Srinagar under six meters of water for weeks, and caused unimaginable destruction, the Jhelum River’s flood-carrying capacity remains alarmingly insufficient. Despite repeated government claims of comprehensive dredging of the Jhelum and its tributaries, restoration of wetlands, development of spill channels, and construction of an alternative flood channel, not a single dredging operation has been carried out in the last five years. Same goes with Tawi river flowing in Jammu region. 

Once again, the recent floods have laid bare the fragile and almost non-existent state of our disaster preparedness. The climate crises of the past months, including the cloud burst in Kishtwar and Katra that left over a 100 pilgrims dead, have starkly exposed the governance vacuum in J&K. 

Disaster response has been delayed, with limited local participation, leaving affected communities vulnerable.

'Dual Governance' Hindered Preparedness and Response

The crisis highlights how the absence of statehood has weakened institutional resilience and local accountability in J&K, raising urgent questions about whether it can truly face climate and security challenges without statehood.

With the Business Procedure Rules of 2024 further concentrating power in the hands of the Lieutenant Governor (LG) of J&K, the newly elected government has been left with very limited authority.

This power imbalance became starkly visible during the recent climate crisis when administrative command rested entirely with the LG-led UT administration, while the elected government appeared sidelined with minimal influence.

Locals widely complained about the delayed response to the disaster. The disconnect was particularly evident during the visit of the Home Minister, when the Chief Minister appeared excluded from key decision-making processes.

Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, while addressing the media, pointed out that only two days of rain caused so much flooding, with rivers including the Jhelum and Tawi were already flowing past the danger mark.

“What if it had rained for nine days?” I need to sit with the officers and understand: What actions have you taken since the 2014 floods to prevent such a disaster?"

Omar Abdullah

After 2014 floods, the World Bank sanctioned $250 million for the Jhelum and Tawi Flood Recovery Project (JTFRP) to rebuild critical infrastructure, restore roads and bridges, strengthen urban flood management, and enhance disaster resilience across over 20 districts. Nearly a decade later, many works—including hospital blocks, bridges, and SCADA-enabled pumping stations—have been completed, while some remain ongoing. Early delays slowed implementation significantly.

Peer Kho area of Jammu, families, especially women, are forced to clear mud and debris from their homes on their own, bearing the brunt of this crisis without support.

(Photo: Kanwal Singh/The Quint)

The Devika Rejuvenation Project, launched to restore the Devika River flowing through Udhampur district in Jammu Division, has come under scrutiny as residents of Udhampur have voiced concerns over alleged irregularities in the Rs 186 crore initiative.

Disaster management plans in Several districts of J&K not being updated annually. Even after ten years, Jammu and Kashmir does not have Disaster Management Institute. Its response remains largely reactive, dependent on outside agencies rather than built on strong local institutions. To truly safeguard lives and communities, the region needs a dedicated Multi-Hazard Research and Monitoring Centre, equipped with real-time early warning systems.

In the aftermath of these devastating floods, it is clear that long-term strategic planning for disaster preparedness in J&K is more important than ever, along with strong policy advocacy for timely and effective action. Such a vision cannot be realised under a governance model where the Assembly holds only limited powers.

Legal, Civic & Environmental Oversight:

The recent flooding in Jammu has starkly exposed the cost of ignoring the Local Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan (LBSAP), prepared by the Forest Department in April 2023. The plan laid out strict timelines for mapping catchment areas, managing rivers and canals, and conserving urban ponds.

However, it was left unimplemented by the very departments meant to act upon it: the Jammu Municipal Corporation (JMC), Urban Environment and Engineering Department, Irrigation & Flood Control Department, and Jammu Development Authority.

Due to this inaction, coupled with excuses of inadequate funding, Jammu’s overnight rainfall, among the heaviest in nearly a century, turned neighborhoods into waterlogged islands, proving that the real tragedy lies not in the rain, but in the authorities’ failure to execute an existing roadmap.

Moreover, over the past six years, numerous unscientific projects were implemented in Jammu & Kashmir despite repeated warnings from environmentalists. Experts have pointed out that one of the reasons areas like Science College and Rajinder Nagar in Jammu flooded was the backflow from Nallahs and Tawi Barrage, which was linked to the Tawi Riverfront development.

While the administration has defended the project, stating that its diaphragm structure regulates river flow, environmentalists across the country have cautioned that riverfronts disrupt the natural course of rivers and results in flooding.

After nearly 37 years, Tawi’s waters once again inundated nearby localities, highlighting the risks of such interventions.

Senior Advocate Sheikh Shakeel of the J&K High Court filed a petition demanding a concrete mitigation plan for 45 villages along an irrigation canal connected to the Tawi River, also called Niki Tawi. Five years later, the case has not moved much. In the 2025 floods, all these villages were submerged, a tragedy that could have been prevented if the government had acted with the urgency and foresight that was long overdue, starkly exposing the systemic neglect of disaster preparedness in the region.

While other nations work to restore their wetlands and forests, we seem determined to destroy ours.

When the Raika forest, the green lungs of Jammu, was under threat, environmental groups like Climate Front Jammu raised the alarm. Few stood with them, but many chose to remain silent. The Supreme Court, in a recent observation, warned that the fragile Himalayan belt could vanish in coming years if exploited recklessly. But every time warnings were drowned out by the rhetoric of “development.”

Who Pays the Price for Development?

The losses caused by the recent floods are estimated to run into thousands of crores in J&K. According to the Vice-Chancellor of Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology, the damage to the university alone amounts to over Rs 100 crores, as it was completely submerged under water. Several localities, including Pir Kho, Rajinder Nagar, Prem Nagar, Gujjar Nagar, and Company Bagh, were inundated under four to five feet of water.

The bridge connecting Bhagwati Nagar collapsed when the Tawi River surged beyond the 34 feet mark. It has been over eight days since traffic on the J&K national highway has been suspended, resulting in significant losses for apple growers.

In Prem Nagar, a family lost their home to the devastating Jammu floods—only a single room survived. When the rains returned, that lone room became their only refuge.

It reminded me of a story which highlighted why governments rarely prepare contingency plans for heatwaves: those who suffer the most, the street vendors, the daily wage earners, the poor—are voices that rarely shape policy priorities. Perhaps now, as our urban centers face flooding, there will be a realisation that these disasters are not merely acts of nature, they are man-made and they are going to impact everyone. 

The recent floods, the three-week highway blockade that crippled Kashmir’s apple economy, and the land subsidence in Chenab Valley and Poonch displacing entire villages, expose a stark truth: Jammu & Kashmir is caught in a cycle where natural hazards are consistently magnified by policy neglect and lack of systematic reform.

The challenges facing J&K are no longer limited to insurgency or border tensions. Climate disasters, no longer rare occurrences, have become an equally pressing frontline. Confronting them demands a well functioning state machinery, empowered local institutions, strengthening community resilience and accountable governance capable of anticipating crises rather than merely reacting to them.