Woman dead following landslide in Assam State, India.

A woman has died following a landslide in the city of Guwahati in Assam State, India. Rini Deka Das, 35, was killed when the landslide hit her home in the Rupnagar district of the city at about 11.30 am local time on Monday 17 September 2025. The victim's husband and son are reported to have escaped from the house, but at the time of the incident she was in the bathroom, which appears to have been the part of the building directly hit by a large rock carried by the landslide. Because the house was located on a hillslope about 150-200 m above the main road, it was impossible to bring heavy machinery up to help with clearing the site, forcing rescuers to clear it by hand, as a result her body was not found until about 10.00 pm on the day of the incident, buried under more than a meter of debris.

The site of a landslide which killed a woman in Assam State, India, on 16 September 2025. Assam Tribune.

The incident is thought to have been triggered by heavy rains associated with the annual Monsoon Season. Landslides are a common problem after severe weather events, as excess pore water pressure can overcome cohesion in soil and sediments, allowing them to flow like liquids. Approximately 90% of all landslides are caused by heavy rainfall. The Monsoon Season typically lasts from May to October each year in Assam, and frequently brings with it flooding and related events. This is a particular problem in rapidly growing cities such as Guwahati, where poorly applied planning regulations have led to housing expanding onto unstable hillslopes (often destabilised further by the removal of trees) and other high risk areas such as floodplains. 

Monsoons are tropical sea breezes triggered by heating of the land during the warmer part of the year (summer). Both the land and sea are warmed by the Sun, but the land has a lower ability to absorb heat, radiating it back so that the air above landmasses becomes significantly warmer than that over the sea, causing the air above the land to rise and drawing in water from over the sea; since this has also been warmed it carries a high evaporated water content, and brings with it heavy rainfall. In the tropical dry season the situation is reversed, as the air over the land cools more rapidly with the seasons, leading to warmer air over the sea, and thus breezes moving from the shore to the sea (where air is rising more rapidly) and a drying of the climate. This situation is particularly intense in South Asia, due to the presence of the Himalayas. High mountain ranges tend to force winds hitting them upwards, which amplifies the South Asian Summer Monsoon, with higher winds leading to more upward air movement, thus drawing in further air from the sea.

Diagrammatic representation of wind and rainfall patterns in a tropical monsoon climate. Geosciences/University of Arizona.

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Two killed by landslide in Uttarakhand State, India.

Two people have been killed and three others injured in a landslide which hit a trekking route to the Kedarnath Temple in Uttarakhand State, India, on Wednesday 18 June 2025. The incident happened at about 11.20 am local time, when rocks fell onto the path, knocking two palanquin operators, their female passenger and two porters into a gorge. The two deceased have been identified as Nitin Kumar, 18, and Chandrashekhar, palanquin operators from the town of Doda in Jammu and Kashmir. The two porters have been taken to a health centre in Gaurikund with serious injuries, while the woman escaped with minor injuries.

Rescue workers descending into a gorge near the Kedarnath Temple in Uttarakhand to search for survivors, following a landslide on Wednesday 18 June 2025. Press Trust of India.

The palanquin bearers were reportedly hit while attempting to cross a debris field left by another landslide earlier in the week, in which another person was killed. Local press reports have suggested that they may have been inexperienced in the role. palanquins were formerly a common way for wealthier pilgrims to reach the Kedarnath Temple, but this has become less popular following the introduction of a helicopter service. However, this helicopter service has been suspended following a crash earlier this pilgrimage season, leading local entrepreneurs to resume palanquin services, often using inexperienced labourers as bearers.

Labourers removing debris from a path leading to the Kedarnath Temple in Uttarakhand following a landslide on Monday 16 June 2025.Press Trust of India.

The landslides appear to have been triggered by heavy rain associated with the annual monsoon. Landslides are a common problem after severe weather events, as excess pore water pressure can overcome cohesion in soil and sediments, allowing them to flow like liquids. Approximately 90% of all landslides are caused by heavy rainfall.

Monsoons are tropical sea breezes triggered by heating of the land during the warmer part of the year (summer). Both the land and sea are warmed by the Sun, but the land has a lower ability to absorb heat, radiating it back so that the air above landmasses becomes significantly warmer than that over the sea, causing the air above the land to rise and drawing in water from over the sea; since this has also been warmed it carries a high evaporated water content, and brings with it heavy rainfall. In the tropical dry season the situation is reversed, as the air over the land cools more rapidly with the seasons, leading to warmer air over the sea, and thus breezes moving from the shore to the sea (where air is rising more rapidly) and a drying of the climate. This situation is particularly intense in South Asia, due to the presence of the Himalayas. High mountain ranges tend to force winds hitting them upwards, which amplifies the South Asian Summer Monsoon, with higher winds leading to more upward air movement, thus drawing in further air from the sea.

Diagrammatic representation of wind and rainfall patterns in a tropical monsoon climate. Geosciences/University of Arizona.

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Rail lines in Westchester County, New York, blocked by landslide.

Rail services on the Hudson Line between Tarrytown and Croton-Harmon in Westchester County, New York, were disrupted for more than a day following a landslide which covered the tracks on Saturday 21 October 2023. The landslide occurred after a period of heavy rainfall in the area. Landslides are a common problem after severe weather events, as excess pore water pressure can overcome cohesion in soil and sediments, allowing them to flow like liquids. Approximately 90% of all landslides are caused by heavy rainfall.

A landslide at Scarborough in Westchester County, New York covering part of the Hudson Line between Tarrytown and Croton-Harmon on Saturday 21 October 2023. Westchester County Police Department.

Landslide expert Dave Petley of the University of Hull has examined images of the landslide, and in his Landslide Blog written that the landslide appears to have been caused by the failure of a retaining wall above the track, parts of which can be seen lying on the track following the landslide. This wall appears to have been used to create a flat garden area upon the hill above the track, with a filling behind is made up of soil and debris from the levelling of the ground behind, and appears to have failed when this soil became waterlogged, either due to poor planning or poor maintenance.

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Landslides and building collapses have killed at least 227 people in Himachal Pradesh so far this monsoon season.

At least 227 people have died, and another 38 are still reported missing, in a series of landslides, building collapses, and other rainfall-related events in Himanchal Pradesh State, India, so far this monsoon season on 24 June 2023. At least 1200 houses, and numerous businesses and civic buildings, have been destroyed or severely damaged by the rains. More than one hundred people were killed in July, with and at least fifty on 14-15 August. One of the worst incidents happened on Monday 14 August, when the Shiv Bawadi Hindu Temple in the Summer Hill area of Shimla was hit by a landslide, killing at least twelve people, including seven members of the same family. Another five people were killed in a separate landslide in the Phagli district of Shimla on the same day. The following day another two landslides destroyed four houses and an abattoir in the Lalpani area of Shimla.

The Shiv Bawadi Hindu Temple in the Summer Hill area of Shimla, before and after the 14 August 2023 landslide. Press Trust of India.

Monsoons are tropical sea breezes triggered by heating of the land during the warmer part of the year (summer). Both the land and sea are warmed by the Sun, but the land has a lower ability to absorb heat, radiating it back so that the air above landmasses becomes significantly warmer than that over the sea, causing the air above the land to rise and drawing in water from over the sea; since this has also been warmed it carries a high evaporated water content, and brings with it heavy rainfall. In the tropical dry season, the situation is reversed, as the air over the land cools more rapidly with the seasons, leading to warmer air over the sea, and thus breezes moving from the shore to the sea (where air is rising more rapidly) and a drying of the climate.

Diagrammatic representation of wind and rainfall patterns in a tropical monsoon climate. Geosciences/University of Arizona.

This years rains have been unusually heavy across South and Southeast Asia, despite there being an El Niño system over the South Pacific, which would usually bring drier conditions. This is probably linked to the rising global temperature, with the record for the Earth's highest average temperature over a 24 hour period being broken three times in July, which has led to higher rates of evaporation from all oceans, leading to unusually high rainfall in many parts of the world.

This situation is particularly intense in South Asia, due to the presence of the Himalayas. High mountain ranges tend to force winds hitting them upwards, which amplifies the South Asian Summer Monsoon, with higher winds leading to more upward air movement, thus drawing in further air from the sea. Himachal Pradesh has been hit particularly hard this year, with record levels of rains recorded in many areas, as well as glaciers melting at faster rates due to global warming, with the effect that many rivers were swollen even before the monsoon rains began to fall.

However, high rainfall is not the only cause of the situation in Shimla, which lies in the Naina Devi foothills of the Shivalik Mountains (which lie along the border between India and Nepal, and are separated from the main Himalaya Mountains by the central Khatmandu Valley of Nepal), and much of it is built on slopes of between 45° and 75°, with more than half of the city on slopes of more than 60°. In the early twentieth century Shimla had a population of about 25 000, but this has now grown to about 300 000, with a major construction boom in the area to support the expanded population. Much of this new construction has been without any attention to the underlying geology, resulting in many four and five story buildings siting on steep slopes of poorly consolidated sediments, making the city and its population exceptionally vulnerable to landslide. 

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