Srinagar, Aug. 15 -- By Aksa Muzamil

Kashmir floods again this year, and the script rarely changes.

Rivers rise past their banks, roads vanish under brown water, families climb to rooftops, and rescue boats move through streets that used to be markets.

Cameras capture the damage, officials promise reviews, and the story fades until the next storm forces it back into the news.

That cycle raises a question officials keep avoiding: If Kashmir has lived alongside flooding for centuries, why does each new episode do more damage than the last?

Meteorologists can measure how much rain fell in a given storm. Hydrologists can explain why a swollen river breaks its banks. Scientists have spent decades tracking Kashmir's disappearing wetlands a...