Srinagar, Aug. 27 -- Our language and poetry often reach for them when we try to describe beauty, majesty, or refuge.

That image is breaking.

Every few months now, footage emerges of hillsides collapsing, rivers bursting their banks, and homes sinking into sludge. Dharali and Chishoti in Uttarakhand. Buner in northern Pakistan. Villages in Ganderbal and Shopian. One night of torrential rain can undo decades of a family's labour, sweeping away houses, schools, bridges, orchards. Families are buried in mud before rescue teams can even arrive. The Himalayas, once symbols of permanence, are behaving like loose rubble.

The science has a blunt explanation. Cloudbursts are increasing in frequency. Studies show that the Himalayan region record...