India, Aug. 27 -- Flash floods on the Nepal-Tibet border and recent Sri Lankan landslides show how disasters striking before full recovery can turn crises into catastrophes.

With homes, roads, hydropower and livelihoods still damaged from earlier events, communities face new hazards with weakened infrastructure, depleted savings and strained public services, exposing a dangerous recovery gap in a warming climate.

Major flash floods on the Nepal-Tibet border have destroyed homes, roads, bridges and local hydropower projects. The flooding of the Bhote Koshi river is affecting 50,000 residents. More than 100 people are dead, with hundreds more, including international tourists, missing.

This region of the Himalayas had not yet recovered f...