Rain clouds gather over Angaikoot village in Gurez. Clear skies can turn into a torrential downpour within minutes.
On July 26, 2026, Mohammad Shafi was preparing for his daughter's wedding celebrations in Zadgayi, a village in Kashmir's Gurez Valley. Around 3 pm, heavy rain in the surrounding mountains sent a sudden rush of water down a nallah, a seasonal stream running through the village. The flood swept away tents, food, utensils, and nearby temporary shelters. No lives were lost, but Shafi, who also serves as the village sarpanch, says he has never seen a flood this intense.
Located in Bandipora district, around 140 km from Srinagar, Gurez is home to the Dard-Shina community, whose lives are closely tied to the mountains and their water sources. Springs provide drinking water, streams irrigate fields, and natural drainage channels carry rainwater and snowmelt towards the Kishenganga River. But during intense rainfall, these same channels can turn into destructive torrents.
The floods in Zadgayi came amid a series of extreme rainfall events across Jammu and Kashmir in June and July 2026. According to Tanvir Ali Dar, a hydrogeologist at NIT Srinagar, the intense rainfall may be linked to the interaction between an unusually active monsoon and western disturbances, which can concentrate heavy rain over small mountain catchments and trigger flash floods.
For remote valleys like Gurez, anticipating such events remains a challenge. Jammu and Kashmir’s three weather radars at Srinagar, Jammu and Banihal leave high Himalayan pockets like Gurez in a blind spot, as mountain terrain blocks radar beams and short, localised cloudbursts can occur away from any sensor. Growing tourism, construction and displacement associated with the Kishanganga Hydroelectric Project have also brought changes to the valley and its communities.
For the people of Gurez, water has always shaped life in the mountains. The floods of 2026 have brought renewed attention to the risks of living alongside it, and the challenges of preparing for extreme weather in one of Kashmir's most remote valleys.
Muhammad Shafi stands on top of debris along a water channel in Zadgayi village in the Gurez Valley, where a flash flood destroyed his daughter’s wedding reception. Multiple tents erected for the celebration were swept away.
Every village in the Gurez valley has nallahs, channels that carry rainwater from the mountains down to the river. In Zadgayi, the recent flood blocked them with debris, which remains uncleared.
The assets of BSNL tower in Zadgayi destroyed in the recent flash floods. Sarpanch Mohammad Shafi had opposed its construction, warning it would worsen flooding. Its collapse formed a debris dam that made the disaster worse.
Jaan Khan from Zadgayi village stands in front of his home amid the debris of his makeshift winter home, built to survive harsh winters
An elderly resident of Zadgayi village stands at her doorway. The tightly clustered wooden log houses are typical of the valley's construction, built for insulation against harsh winters and built to last through generations of wear.
For the Dard-Shina, daily life revolves around water sources near the hamlets.
A cow grazes near a farm patch in Angaikoot village, nourished by a tributary of the Kishenganga River. In Gurez, where people settle depends on where the water flows.
A young girl crosses a wooden bridge in Angaikoot village in the Gurez Valley on her way to the fields. These wooden bridges connect hamlets scattered across the mountains.
Young boys in Angaikoot chat before filling their bottles. Water from natural springs is piped into every village, where it flows freely.
Habba Khatoon Spring in Gurez valley is named after the 16th-century Kashmiri poet, born Zoon. When her husband, Yusuf Shah Chak, was imprisoned and exiled by the Mughals, she turned her grief into poetry that is still sung across Kashmir. Visitors drink from the spring, believing its water can heal.
Badwan village once stood at this site before it was submerged by the Kishanganga Hydroelectric Project, displacing families across Gurez and Bandipora district. Experts had warned that the project could destabilise catchment areas and increase flood risk.
A generous resident of Angaikoot in the Gurez Valley offers us chai and shares local stories. This generosity, and the time people make for their guests, define the valley as much as its mountains do.
This photo essay was produced as part of the India Water Portal Regional Storytelling Fellowship 2026.