Uttarakhand, the mountainous northern state that hosts Dharali, has been devastated by cloudbursts before. A June 2013 cloudburst killed over 6,000 people in Uttarakhand and surrounding states, becoming the country's worst natural disaster in ten years. In 2021, flash flooding triggered by a cloudburst killed over 200.

Flash floods have swept away homes and shops in northern India, killing at least four people and trapping many others under debris.

A flash flood driving a torrent of mud smashed into a town in India's Himalayan region on Tuesday, killing at least four people with around 100 others missing."We have received information about four deaths and around 100 people missing.