SANGLA DOWNPOUR

The sun blazed down at us as we made our way to Sangla. Sangla is a town in the Baspa Valley, in the Kinnaur District of Himachal Pradesh, India, close to the Tibetan border.

In Sangla, we were greeted by a drizzle which later turned into a continuous, heavy downpour that went on for nearly 70 hours.



Rain during this time of the year is unheard of and is least expected. Sangla usually receives rainfall from mid- July to October. The rainfall is restricted to the lower parts of Kinnaur and the higher areas receive only small amount of rainfall.

The rain came as a surprise because none of us, locals included, were expecting it. The loose soil let the water flow in, creating streams all around us and our tents were inundated. Due to the fact that our campsite was flooded, we had to trek up to Sangla town, and stay in a hotel. The 2 km trek seemed endless. Enter Wonderland (The place we were stranded for next few days) – Alice’s hole for escape and comfort.

With the rain, came extremely low temperatures of about 4 degrees Celsius and the nights were even cooler than usual. The average temperature observed in Sangla, in the month of June is 8 degrees Celsius at night and 30 degrees Celsius during the day.

Due to the heavy rainfall in the upper areas of Kinnaur, the country’s largest hydropower plants, the Nathpa Jhakri Project and the Karcham Wangtoo Project, were closed since the 16th of June due to the sudden rise in the level of silt in the Sutlej.

We could see a highly unusual amount of snow falling on the mountains from our hotel. We were told that it was around 5-6 feet, which was unheard of at this time of the year. Due to the landslides, most roads were shut. What could possibly be the reason for such a sudden change in the weather this year?

M Y T H   O R   F A C T

VIDYA KARAN NEGI - Everester / Guide "Rakcham mein devi ke mandir mein chori hui hain, karodo ke zevraat chale gaye. Bas yeh Devi ka prakop hain. Bemausam baarish ho rahi hain. Sangla mein maine aisi baarish kabhi nahi dekhi. Vinaash lekar aayi hain." A theft in the Rakcham temple, where the face of the deity alongwith the jewels were stolen, could have been the cause of the bad weather, Vidya Karan believes.

ANKIT DHINGRA - Participant, AFS 2012" "Mornings used to be bearable as far as cold is concerned. From 9-10 in the morning in the morning till 4-5 in the evening, we could roam around in a single layer of clothing. Very good and pleasant, light breeze, sun out, all green. Nights would be the colder. Another layer of clothes was needed. The temperature difference between days and nights I guess was about 10-12 degrees." He shared his experience with us as he went to same place and date last year.

SHANTAKUMAR NEGI - Anti dam activist "Man himself has led this devastation over mankind. The building of so many dams over the Sutlej has not even given 5 km of range for it to flow. This leads to floods even during less, but continuous rainfall. Excessive dynamite blasts of mountains are done in order to construct dams. This has also increased the risk of Earthquake, since these are young fold mountains." For 3 years he has been organising people to stop dam construction in semi arid and arid zones of Himachal Pradesh

ASHOK JI - Everester / Guide "Is saal snow bhi 12 feet gira. News mein aya tha 140 saal ke baad ho rahi hai. Humne toh apne jeevan mein June ke mahine mein aisi baarish nahi dekhi. Sangla mein desh bidesh se log aate hain tent mein rehene ke liye. Sab khatam ho gaya." He is hired by The National Disaster Management Authority to rescue those trapped in high altitudes.