India, Aug. 17 -- Kerala's July 2026 floods expose a river-wetland system pushed to breaking point.

Experts say the Pamba and the Vembanad-Kuttanad complex have lost most of their natural capacity to store and slow floodwaters, due to wetland reclamation, encroachments, sedimentation and tourism pressure.

Without systemic restoration, future extreme rainfall could turn the basin into a deadly trap for people and water.

The floods in Kerala this year have highlighted the huge strain that the Pamba river, the state's third-longest, is under, along with the Vembanad-Kuttanad wetland system, experts have told Down To Earth (DTE).

For centuries, this complex hydrological landscape has operated to a natural rhythm, with water being received...