As families weep for their losses after a flash flood rages across India,  heavy rain shattered a glacial lake to release the water inside, claiming 14 lives and causing 100 to go missing.

     On Wednesday, October 4th, the disaster affected more than 20,000 people according to authorities. Following the losses, the collapse of a multitude of buildings and bridges caused even more to go missing or be killed.

     “The search operations are being undertaken under conditions of incessant rains, fast-flowing water in Teesta River, roads and bridges washed away at many places,” a defense spokesperson on the X social media platform, formerly known as Twitter said.

     Adding onto this, even more rain is scheduled to hit India, making rescue operations difficult. With electricity being taken out by the sudden rain burst, communications are harder to transmit. Along with these downsides, one more major problem awaits. The flood washed away the food and other supplies that were held across India. They were damaged or swept away entirely, causing individuals to starve in the harsh conditions.

    Rain is usually unlikely in India, but due to an unpredictable cloudburst, or a sudden violent storm, vast quantities of rain poured over the country. The last catastrophic flood to hit the city similar to this was over 50 years ago. Scientists claim that more violent storms are occurring because of the effect humans are causing on climate.

     Cloudbursts occur when drenched clouds are not able to cause any rain because of the rising climate. Rather than falling down, the rain swells up and gets larger, causing more hazardous conditions the longer the rain is stalled. Cloudbursts are more common in the Himalayan region, which is in the northern area of India.