Uttarakhand, the mountainous northern state that hosts Dharali, has been devastated by cloudbursts before. A June 2013 cloudburst killed over 6,000 people in Uttarakhand and surrounding states, becoming the country's worst natural disaster in ten years. In 2021, flash flooding triggered by a cloudburst killed over 200.

Dharali village, located in Uttarkashi's Rajgarhi tehsil, has a population of 505 and sits near the Kheer Ganga river. On Tuesday, a cloudburst in the region led to flash floods, damaging homes and hotels.