Sudden cloudbursts and intense monsoon rains battered the Himalayan region on 14–15 August, killing more than 250 people across India’s Jammu & Kashmir and neighbouring Pakistan. Authorities in the two countries said dozens remain missing and warned that continuing downpours could push the toll higher. In Indian-administered Kashmir, a cloudburst sent torrents of water and debris through the village of Chasoti in Kishtwar district, the road-head for the annual Machail Mata pilgrimage. Chief Minister Omar Abdullah said at least 60 bodies had been recovered while more than 200 people were unaccounted for. Police, National Disaster Response Force dog squads and army engineers have evacuated some 6,000 pilgrims and treated over 100 injured as earth-movers clear roads buried under mud and boulders. The pilgrimage has been suspended. Across the border in Pakistan’s mountainous Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, flash floods and landslides killed at least 194 people in the 24-hour period to late Friday, according to the National Disaster Management Authority. The Buner area alone reported about 100 deaths. An MI-17 helicopter ferrying relief supplies to Bajaur crashed in heavy rain, killing its five-member crew. The federal government has declared several districts disaster zones and mobilised troops and boats to rescue stranded residents. Meteorologists attribute the severity of the events to increasingly frequent cloudbursts and heavier monsoon rains, trends scientists link to climate change and unplanned development in fragile mountain terrain. Weather services in both countries forecast further rainfall through the weekend, prolonging perilous search-and-rescue operations.