The brutal war in Sudan, now deep into its third year, has shifted its centre of gravity to the strategic central region of Kordofan from Darfur, threatening to split the country in two.
December saw the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) expand its offensive, seizing vital oil infrastructure and laying siege to key cities, while the government-aligned Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) intensified aerial campaigns.
Humanitarian conditions hit a new nadir as the United Nations warned of a “survival mode” operations plan due to severe funding cuts, leaving millions at risk of starvation in 2026.
Here are the key battlefield, humanitarian, and political developments for December 2025.
Fighting and military control
Battle for oil and the South Sudan deal: On December 8, the RSF seized the strategic Heglig oilfield – Sudan’s largest – in West Kordofan. Following a deadly drone attack on the facility, a tripartite agreement involving SAF, RSF, and Juba saw South Sudanese troops deploy to secure the field and neutralise it from combat.
Kordofan as the new epicentre: Violence surged across Kordofan. The RSF claimed control of Babnusa, the gateway to West Kordofan, though the army denied the total fall of the city. Meanwhile, the RSF maintained “airtight sieges” on Kadugli and Dilling in South Kordofan, while pushing towards the strategic North Kordofan capital, el-Obeid.
Escalation of drone warfare: Drones were used extensively by both sides with devastating effect. A strike on the Atbara power plant in River Nile state plunged major cities, including Port Sudan, into darkness. In Kalogi, South Kordofan, a drone attack on a preschool and hospital killed at least 116 people, including 46 children.
Attacks on UN Peacekeepers: On December 13, a drone attack hit a UN logistics base in Kadugli, killing six Bangladeshi peacekeepers and wounding eight others. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres condemned the attack, stating it may constitute a war crime.
El-Fasher a “crime scene”: A UN team gained access to el-Fasher for the first time since its fall in October, describing the largely deserted city as a “crime scene”. A report by the Yale Humanitarian Research Lab documented a systematic RSF campaign to burn bodies and destroy evidence of mass killings.
Military plane crash: An Ilyushin Il-76 military transport plane crashed at Port Sudan’s Osman Digna airbase due to a technical malfunction, killing the entire crew.
Humanitarian crisis
Aid funding collapse: The UN announced it has been forced to halve its 2026 appeal to $23bn due to donor fatigue. Consequently, the World Food Programme (WFP) warned it must cut food rations by 70 percent starting in January, affecting communities already facing famine.
Sudan tops emergency list: The International Rescue Committee (IRC) placed Sudan at the top of its Emergency Watchlist for 2026, citing the convergence of conflict, economic collapse, and shrinking international support.
Systematic sexual violence: A report by the Strategic Initiative for Women in the Horn of Africa (SIHA) documented nearly 1, 300 cases of sexual violence, attributing 87 percent of them to the RSF. The report detailed how rape is being used as a weapon of war, particularly against non-Arab groups.
Health catastrophe: Malnutrition rates have skyrocketed, with UNICEF reporting that 53 percent of children screened in North Darfur are acutely malnourished. In Khartoum, a survey found 97 percent of households face food shortages, as authorities began exhuming makeshift graves in residential areas to move bodies to official cemeteries.
EU Air Bridge: The European Union launched an “air bridge” operation to deliver life-saving supplies to Darfur, describing the situation there as “one of the world’s hardest places to reach”.
Diplomacy and political developments
Deadlock at the UN: Sudanese Prime Minister Kamil Idris presented a peace plan to the UN Security Council proposing an RSF withdrawal and disarmament. The RSF rejected the proposal as “wishful thinking” and “fantasy”.
Al-Burhan rejects compromise: Speaking from Turkiye, SAF chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan ruled out negotiations, insisting the war would only end with the RSF’s “surrender” and disarmament.
Civilian “Third Pole”: In Nairobi, civilian leaders, including former PM Abdalla Hamdok and rebel leader Abdelwahid al-Nur, signed a declaration forming a new antiwar bloc, attempting to reclaim political agency from the warring generals.
US pressure and sanctions: US Secretary of State Marco Rubio intensified diplomatic efforts, stating President Donald Trump is personally involved. The US Treasury sanctioned four Colombian nationals and companies for recruiting mercenaries to fight for the RSF.
ICC Conviction: In a historic verdict, the International Criminal Court sentenced former Popular Defence Forces (Janjaweed) leader Ali Kushayb to 20 years in prison for war crimes committed in Darfur (2003-2004), the first such conviction for the region.
Mali and Burkina Faso have announced their plan to apply reciprocal visa bans to citizens of the United States, weeks after President Donald Trump included the West African countries in an expanded travel ban list.
In separate letters shared late on Tuesday, both countries emphasised that the new measures were aimed at applying the same rules to Americans travelling to their countries as their citizens face when travelling to the US.
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Mali’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation said US citizens travelling to the country would experience “the same conditions and requirements as those imposed by the American authorities on Malian citizens entering the United States”.
It added that the changes were being introduced as “a matter of reciprocity and with immediate effect”.
Burkina Faso said it was applying “equivalent visa measures to citizens of the United States of America” and emphasised that it “remains committed to mutual respect, the sovereign equality of States, and the principle of reciprocity in its international relations”.
The announcements came after Trump said on December 16 he was adding seven more countries, as well as the holders of Palestinian Authority documents, to a list of countries whose nationals were “fully” restricted and limited from entering the US.
Burkina Faso and Mali were among the countries added to the list, all of which were either Arab or African nations.
Trump said at the time that the changes were being introduced to meet US “foreign policy, national security, and counterterrorism objectives”.
A section explaining the reasons for the ban on nationals from Burkina Faso said the US Department of State had found “terrorist organisations continue to plan and conduct terrorist activities throughout Burkina Faso”.
It also cited visa overstays and a historic refusal to “accept back” nationals deported from the US.
In relation to Mali, Trump’s announcement said the State Department had found “armed conflict between the Malian government and armed groups is common throughout the country and that” terrorist organisations operate freely in certain areas of Mali”.
In total, the new additions brought the total to 19 countries plus Palestine, the countries banned under Trump, who also introduced similar travel bans during his first presidency.
Together with Niger, which was also included in the list of new countries banned by the US in mid-December, Mali and Burkina Faso have recently sought to distance themselves from Western countries while working together in a new grouping known as the Alliance of Sahel States (AES).
All three countries are led by military leaders who have forged closer ties with Russia in recent years, while kicking out French and US soldiers previously stationed there.
Mali has welcomed Russian forces, including about 1, 500 personnel from the Wagner mercenary group and roughly 1, 000 fighters from the Kremlin-controlled paramilitary group Africa Corps.
At a recent Sahel summit in Bamako, Mali, the three countries announced the launch of a joint military battalion aimed at fighting armed groups across the region.
The same words keep appearing throughout the entire year as you go back in time.
The top-trending terms of 2025, from artificial intelligence to Zohran Mamdani, shaped headlines across politics, conflict, technology and climate.
According to a loose analysis of our own most-viewed story tags and those that appeared in Google’s most searched, AJ Labs hascompiled an A to Z list of names, places, and issues that generated sustained interest throughout 2025.
Taken together, these terms are a patchwork of issues that are also likely to spill into 2026, from ongoing conflicts to a changing technosocial landscape not seen since the dawn of the internet.
By the words that inspired the year, this is 2025 from A to Z.
Artificial Intelligence
AI adoption is growing rapidly, and this year’s biggest discussions focused on how it will transform workplaces and reshape economies.
In October, the Reuters Institute carried out a survey in six countries and found that the proportion of respondents who said they used a generative AI system such as ChatGPT jumped from 40 percent to 61 percent this year. Big AI players like Nvidia, Google, Meta, and OpenAI are making massive circular deals this year as governments try to regulate the rapidly expanding technology and resounding concerns about job losses and echoes of a dotcom-style bust.
According to UBS projections, global annual AI spending is expected to swell to $375bn by the end of the year before topping $3 trillion annually by 2030 – this includes spending on AI infrastructure, as well as power and resources for electricity demand.
Bitcoin
In 2025, Bitcoin reached new heights thanks to US-based crypto ETFs’ maturation and institutional inflows.
President Trump positioned himself as the “crypto president”, and propelled family crypto ventures and the broader sector into the mainstream. He overturned the US Securities and Exchange Commission’s crackdown on crypto companies and rewarded those pro-crypto executives and businesses that raised money to support candidates who supported their goals in the 2024 election cycle.
On October 6, Bitcoin reached an all-time high of $126, 080, marking a defining moment for the digital asset, before reminding investors how quickly momentum can reverse as it finishes the year at $88, 400.
Charlie Kirk
Conservative activist and media figure Charlie Kirk became a central and controversial figure in 2025 following his assassination, which sent shockwaves through US politics and globally.
Kirk, the man behind Turning Point USA, had spent years at the forefront of campus culture conflicts, where he cultivated a large following through provocative lectures delivered on campus and in close collaboration with Donald Trump and the MAGA movement.
On September 10, he was shot dead near where he was engaged in a debate at Utah Valley University. His murder sparked debates about extremism and political violence in the US, which grew even more so.
Donald Trump
US President Donald Trump warrants a standalone article for the scale, speed and unprecedented nature of changes he unleashed during his second term, and for the wide web of issues tied to his leadership.
In 2025 alone, he signed 225 executive orders, surpassing the number he signed during his entire first term.
He pardone those responsible for the 2021 Capitol Hill riots when he returned to office on January 20 and started his term. Soon after, he announced sweeping global tariffs – but often focused on China, followed by the “One Big Beautiful Bill”, which triggered deep federal spending cuts and stripped funding from major US programmes, including USAID. His administration reformed environmental and diversity policies and increased immigration enforcement.
Internationally, he questioned longstanding alliances, scaled back support for Ukraine and escalated pressure on Iran, including US strikes on its nuclear facilities. His policies, ironically, polarized both Americans and politicians, particularly in the healthcare and defense sectors, which caused the longest government shutdown before Thanksgiving.
And that’s just some of what he did this year.
Elections
Polls were a little less muted this year than they were in 2024, despite the hundreds of millions of eligible voters participating in 69 elections across the world.
National elections took place in countries such as Germany, Canada and Japan, alongside dozens of parliamentary, presidential and local contests across Africa, Asia and Europe. Sanae Takaichi became the first woman to hold the position of prime minister in Japan.
Far right
Far-right politics were a hot topic on social media, where such narratives were significant in shaping public opinion.
In Europe, far-right parties recorded some of their strongest results on record, including becoming the second-largest force in Germany’s federal election, where the AfD won 20.8 precent of the vote.
In other countries, protests in the UK, like those promoting “Unite the Kingdom,” led by right-wing activist Tommy Robinson, saw a sizable turnout of protesters and counterprotesters in August. Elon Musk’s role in the rally – where he appeared in front of protesters via a live link – highlighted the influence social media networks now play in promoting particular narratives and the powerful figures steering the wheel.
Gaza
Israel’s two-year-old genocidal war against Gaza was fought by Israeli forces, who continued to bombard the area with air and ground attacks and repeatedly displaced the population. A particular turning point was when the IPC declared famine in Gaza in August, following Israel’s continued blockade of aid and the purposeful starvation of the population.
At least 25, 000 Palestinians were killed and 62, 000 others were hurt by Israel alone in 2025.
In October, a ceasefire was brokered between Hamas and Israel. Israeli attacks have continued, though.
Houthis
The Iran‑aligned Houthis in Yemen were central in the wider Middle East crisis, drawing global attention for both military actions and diplomatic developments.
A significant international trade route was impacted by the group’s attacks on Israeli military and commercial ships in the Red Sea and against Israel, which also sparked Israeli and US air strikes on Houthi positions and infrastructure year after.
According to ACLED, there were more than 48 strikes on Yemen in 2025 from Israel, including strikes on Hodeidah port.
Iran
Israel launched a string of strikes on June 13 that targeted Iran’s main nuclear facility in Natanz, including the country’s main nuclear facility.
During the 12-day conflict, Israel also attacked residential neighbourhoods, killing several nuclear scientists and military commanders. Iranian cities were targeted by Israeli cities in retaliation with hundreds of ballistic missiles.
On June 22, the situation escalated when the United States joined the attacks, bombing three nuclear facilities , in Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan.
International concern was immediately sparked by the attacks, which led to UN Security Council meetings and sharp retaliation from Iran, including ballistic missile launches targeting US bases in the area and threats to international shipping through the Strait of Hormuz.
Jeffrey Epstein
In 2025, the Jeffrey Epstein saga continued to make headlines as new documents, emails and images were released under the Epstein Files Transparency Act, with the New York Times claiming more than 130,000 papers have been released to date.
Photos of Epstein’s private island, call logs and email exchanges with high‑profile figures were published by the House Oversight Committee, drawing global attention and sparking heated political debate.
Among the most talked‑about revelations in late 2025 were emails in which Epstein allegedly referenced Donald Trump and claimed a victim had spent time at his house, leading to fierce partisan disputes over context and accuracy. The White House called the disclosures a smear, while critics argued they raised uncomfortable questions about elite networks.
Kendrick Lamar
Kendrick Lamar was one of the most-talked-about artists in music, driven by the ongoing effect of his song Not Like Us, which became his longest-charting rap song ever, spending more than 50 weeks on the Billboard Hot 100.
After Lamar’s Super Bowl halftime performance, which more than 133.5 million people watched, the song also topped the charts.
Louvre
In October, the Louvre Museum in Paris was shaken by one of the most audacious art robberies in recent memory, when thieves made off with priceless French crown jewels worth an estimated $102m.
The gang broke into the museum in broad daylight, cut display cases with power tools, and escaped on scooters in a brutal raid that took less than eight minutes while the museum was open to the public.
French authorities launched a nationwide manhunt, but the bulk of the stolen jewels remains missing. The most-visited museum in the world was severely compromised by the heist, which caused urgent security fixes.
Migration
This year, migration debates continued to grip government chambers worldwide, with polarising policy changes adopted in different countries.
As a result of a partnership between France and the UK for a “one in, one out” plan for small boat crossings, asylum laws and border controls were tightened in both Europe and North America.
Across the pond, the US saw one of the most aggressive immigration enforcement policies, with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) escalating operations in the country. ICE reportedly detained more than 68 000 people, and hundreds of thousands have been deported.
Nuclear
As it stands, in 2025, there are 12, 241 nuclear warheads active worldwide, with several countries increasing or modernising their stockpiles instead of reducing them, as they have for the past two decades.
The year was most notable for direct US and Israeli strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities, according to Pentagon officials, which delayed Iran’s nuclear program by an estimated one to two years.
On the energy front, 2025 saw a mix of expansion and contraction in nuclear power. A groundbreaking agreement between the US and the UK helped to create thousands of jobs as a result of the US’s signing of a landmark agreement. While in Germany, nuclear phase-out continued, with the closing of ageing plants, despite other European nations looking towards nuclear power for green energy.
West Bank occupied
In parallel to Israel’s ongoing war in Gaza, it launched the largest military assault in decades on the West Bank, expanded illegal Israeli settlements, and carried out regular home demolitions.
So far in 2025, the UN’s OCHA documented 1, 680 Israeli settlers’ attacks in more than 270 communities in the West Bank, or on average five incidents per day.
The olive harvest has also continued to be marked by widespread settler violence, with 178 attacks documented in October and November in 88 communities.
Pope
With the resignation of Pope Francis and the election of a new pontiff, the Catholic Church underwent a historic leadership transition in April.
The 2025 conclave was notable for being the largest in the Church’s history, with 133 cardinal electors gathering in the Sistine Chapel to vote on the next pope, surpassing previous limits on electors and reflecting the global diversity of the College of Cardinals.
The cardinals chose Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost, who became Pope Leo XIV after several rounds of secret voting, making this the first pope to be elected from the United States.
Qatar
In 2025, Qatar was not only a key diplomatic player, but also a flashpoint in the region’s wider conflicts.
A Qatari security official and others were killed in an unprecedented airstrike on Doha in September, prompting widespread condemnation of the attack as a violation of Qatar’s sovereignty and international law.
The strike prompted emergency meetings of Gulf and Islamic bodies in solidarity with Doha, as it became the sixth country that Israel attacked this year.
RSF
The Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in Sudan were at the heart of the country’s devastating civil war, expanding their territorial authority and intensifying what the UN called one of the worst humanitarian crises ever to occur.
The paramilitary group consolidated its grip over large parts of western Sudan, including areas around el-Fasher in North Darfur, where UN officials and rights groups reported mass killings that left tens of thousands of civilians dead and widespread destruction of displacement camps.
At least 4,200 civilians were killed by the RSF, according to ACLED. They were accused of systematic abuses, including ethnically targeted violence, sexual assault, looting and attacks on hospitals and aid convoys.
Syria
The al-Assad dynasty, which ruled for more than 50 years, was taken out of power by a rebel offensive on December 8.
The 14-year-long war led to one of the world’s largest migration crises, with some 6.8 million Syrians, about a third of the population, fleeing the country at the war’s peak in 2021.
Over 782, 000 Syrians have already left their home countries in the past year, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM).
Tariffs
On April 1, Trump imposed reciprocal tariffs on the US’s trading partners, rattling global trade and increasing tensions in international relations.
A number of businesses said they would switch their supply chains as a result of the levies. It is estimated that the US-imposed tariffs generated more than $124.5bn in revenue between January and September 2025. According to the Tax Foundation, Trump tariffs will increase taxes by an average of $1,100 per US household in 2025.
Ukraine
The war in Ukraine entered its fourth year in 2025 and was defined by intensified fighting, stalled diplomacy and a shift in US policy that reshaped the conflict’s trajectory.
Russian forces had made incremental but costly gains on the eastern front over the course of the year, gaining roughly 19% of the territory on the battlefield (118, 000 square kilometers or 45,550 miles).
The conflict saw a marked escalation in advanced warfare, including expanded use of long-range missiles and, significantly, the use of drones on both sides.
Venezuela
The Venezuelan situation, which Trump’s administration’s foreign policy initiative, garnered additional international attention as a result of his administration’s decision to “narcoterrorist” a new battlefield.
Since August, Washington deployed thousands of troops, warships and aircraft across the region, reopened military bases in Puerto Rico and conducted drills, in what analysts describe as the largest US presence in Latin America in decades.
More than 100 people died as a result of the US’s series of strikes on Venezuelan boats in September, which it claimed were carrying drugs.
Weather
The year 2025 kicked off with the devastating Palisades Fire in Los Angeles, which destroyed thousands of homes and buildings. For the first nine months of 2025, according to Gallagher Reinsurance Brokers, total global insured loss for natural disasters and climate-related events was estimated to be $ 105 billion, making this the sixth consecutive year with losses of more than $100 billion.
Other extreme weather events, such as heavy rains and flooding, also battered large parts of Asia in late 2025: Northern Vietnam experienced historic flood levels after prolonged tropical rainfall, while India and Pakistan dealt with monsoon‑related floods that were among the deadliest of the year. The Philippines, Taiwan, and southern China were affected by the powerful winds and floods caused by Typhoon Ragasa and other Pacific storms.
In October, Hurricane Melissa became the strongest storm to hit Jamaica, making landfall as a Category 5, causing widespread damage.
Xi Jinping
Xi Jinping pushed for strategic autonomy and regional dominance in 2025.
He was in charge of China’s 14th Five-Year Plan at home, with state media reporting steady growth and setting the stage for 2026. He also chaired the 25th Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit in Tianjin, hosting more than 20 heads of state and positioning China as a central force in Global South and Eurasian security.
Following Trump’s tariff mandate, which saw both sides escalate into a tit-for-tat of levies that, at one point, climbed to triple digits, but a mid-year truce eased pressure on global markets, led to renewed and aggressive trade and technology tensions.
Yoon Suk Yeol
In December 2024, South Korea was thrust into a political crisis after then-President Yoon Suk Yeol declared martial law, citing rising unrest and an alleged threat to national security.
It resulted in the deployment of troops, detention of opposition lawmakers and the curtailing of press freedom. A year on, prosecutors indicted Yoon Suk Yeol for insurrection on December 15, accusing him of seeking to provoke military aggression from North Korea to help consolidate his power.
Earlier this month, special prosecutor Cho Eun-seok told a briefing that his team had indicted Yoon, five former cabinet members, and 18 others on insurrection charges, following a six-month probe into his declaration of martial law last year.
Zohran Mamdani
After Trump, the most talked about US politician in 2025 might just be Zohran Mamdani, who became New York City’s first Muslim, South Asian and African-born mayor by winning 50.8 percent of the vote.
He won the city’s primary elections in June by campaigning against rent freezes, universal childcare, public transportation, and green infrastructure.
However, his campaign experienced intense scrutiny and backlash online, with Equality Labs tracking more than 17 million social media posts about him in 2025 containing Islamophobic, xenophobic and polarising content.
In 2025, a number of countries across the world, including Southeast Asia, North America, and the Middle East, were ravaged by devastating floods.
We asked climate experts what is causing the devastation and what governments should be doing to prevent the situation from becoming even worse in the coming year.
Which areas in 2025 experienced the worst flood damage?
“Throughout 2025, a series of major floods occurred worldwide, making flooding the year’s foremost climate hazard”, Pawan Bhattarai, assistant professor at the civil engineering department of Nepal’s Kathmandu-based Tribhuvan University, told Al Jazeera.
Some of the biggest floods that occurred are briefly summarized here.
Gaza
Heavy downpours and freezing temperatures continue to ravage Gaza, where nearly 2 million people have been displaced during two years of Israeli bombardment that has destroyed much of the Strip.
In Gaza, many people are residing in tents amid the rubble of destroyed homes and are largely unprotected from the strong winds and rain.
On Saturday, a polar low-pressure weather system carried particularly heavy rain and strong winds to the Gaza Strip. This is the third system to hit the territory in the last few weeks, according to meteorologist Laith al-Allami, with a fourth one hitting on Monday, according to Anadolu Agency.
One of the previous two was Storm Byron, which brought heavy rainfall and strong winds to Gaza as well as parts of Israel and the wider eastern Mediterranean region earlier this month.
Israel was kept on top watch for the storm, with troops putting on power, protecting power lines, and halting military leave. But the UN said 55, 000 Palestinian households in Israel lacking basic services and government support were left exposed.
In Gaza, the storm claimed the lives of at least 14 Palestinians and injured several others. Among the victims was a newborn baby in al-Mawasi, who succumbed to freezing temperatures.
Morocco
Morocco launched a national emergency relief effort earlier this month to assist people who had experienced severe flooding as a result of torrential downpours, snowstorms, and freezing conditions.
Flash floods killed at least 37 people and damaged about 70 homes and shops in the town of Safi, 300km (186 miles) south of the capital, Rabat.
Prosecutors are looking into whether the disaster resulted from infrastructure problems like poor drainage.
Moroccans inspect debris following a flash flood in the coastal town of Safi, 300 km (186 miles) south of the capital, Rabat, on December 15, 2025]AFP]
Indonesia
At least 961 people were killed in Aceh, North Sumatra, and West Sumatra as a result of the floods that occurred in Indonesia in December. More than 20 villages across the three provinces were completely swept away by the floods.
Many areas were left inaccessible as a result of the destruction of homes, rice fields, dams, and bridges.
Illegal logging – often linked to the global demand for palm oil – along with forest loss due to mining, plantations and fires, both exacerbated the disaster in Sumatra.
Around the same time, neighboring Malaysia reported flooding.
Thailand
At least 276 people have been killed in flooding in Thailand in December. According to the Thai Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation, the floods severely affected eight provinces in the central plains, four in the south, and two in the north.
Sri Lanka
In late November, floods and landslides killed at least 56 people as Cyclone Ditwah, a deadly tropical storm, swept across Sri Lanka.
The heavy downpour which accompanied the storm destroyed four houses and damaged more than 600. Additionally, it obstructed several roads and railroad lines by causing trees and mud to fall.
Sri Lankan President Anura Kumara Dissanayake, who took office in September 2024, inherited painful austerity measures imposed by his predecessor, Ranil Wickremesinghe, as part of a bailout loan package from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), hampering rescue efforts.
“The storm poses a significant challenge to the government that is just beginning to address the social and economic concerns of the people,” Ahilan Kadirgamar, a senior lecturer at the department of sociology, University of Jaffna in Sri Lanka, told Al Jazeera in November.
Nepal
In October, severe floods and landslides hit parts of Nepal and India’s eastern Himalayan city of Darjeeling, killing at least 50 people.
Overall, there was only slightly less rain than in 2024, when the Kathmandu Valley experienced its heaviest downpour since 2002, so this year’s rainfall wasn’t record-breaking. In the capital Kathmandu, some districts received just more than 145 mm of rain this year, compared with about 240 mm in late September 2024.
However, “ultra-localized,” heavy rains caused significant damage.
The floods came one month after Nepal’s “Gen Z” protests in Kathmandu and other cities against corruption and nepotism. Following the protests, former Chief Justice Sushila Karki, 73, replaced him as interim prime minister and former military officer.
While experts praised Karki for her interim government’s prompt early weather warnings before the flooding, widespread damage to critical infrastructure during the protests hindered rebuilding and relief operations.
A significant change in policy and practice is urgently required to stop future disasters. This must prioritise comprehensive watershed management, focusing on stabilising slopes and managing water run-off, which has been a persistently neglected area in our current approach to disaster risk reduction”, Bhattarai, the engineering professor, told Al Jazeera at the time.
Mexico
At least 66 people were killed in Mexico as a result of floods in October. Tropical storms caused flooding in five states in the country: Veracruz, Puebla, Hidalgo, Queretaro and San Luis Potosi.
More than 16 000 homes were ruined in the nation.
Pakistan
Between June and August, several regions of Pakistan experienced flooding triggered by torrential rains. In the entire nation, over 700 people were killed.
Floods devastated the Buner district in the northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. Additionally, high-intensity rains that fell over a short period of time caused significant flooding in Gilgit-Baltistan, Pakistan-administered Kashmir, and the southern city of Karachi.
Rainfall continued in Pakistan and neighbouring countries until late August, and floods prompted the evacuation of 500, 000 people in the Punjab province.
More than 1, 400 people were killed when an earthquake of magnitude 6  hit Afghanistan near its border with Pakistan, according to the government. Efforts to rescue people affected by the earthquake were hindered because flash floods had affected the Nangarhar province of Afghanistan, which borders Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
United States
As of last week, more than 40 million Americans had been placed under winter storm warnings or weather advisories. In California, where a so-called “atmospheric river” has accumulated rain, another 30 million people have been warned of flood or storm advisories.
An atmospheric river is a long, narrow band of air in the atmosphere that carries large amounts of water vapour.
Due to winter storm Devin, which caused blizzards in the Midwest and northeast and heavy snow forecasts in parts of both regions, thousands of flights in the US were canceled last week.
Earlier in the year, several US states, including Texas, West Virginia, New Mexico and New Jersey, were hit by flash floods – sudden and rapid flooding of low-lying areas – in July.
These floods were primarily brought on by short-term, heavy rainfall.
Flash floods in Texas killed more than 100 people in July 2025. The Guadalupe River flooded its banks within two hours, rising to a height of 9 meters (30 ft) above two-storey buildings.
Twenty-five girls and two counsellors were killed, and other people went missing when the floods hit the riverside Camp Mystic, a private Christian summer camp for girls.
According to a guide created by the Guadalupe-Blanco River Authority, a Texas state agency dedicated to protecting the river basin’s water resources, the river has previously experienced significant floods in 1936, 1952, 1972, 1973, 1978, 1987, 1991, and 1997.
The 1987 deluge was particularly disastrous and also hit a summer camp, killing 10 teenagers at the Pot O ‘ Gold Christian Camp near Comfort, Texas, according to local media. However, the Guadalupe River exceeded 1987 levels, according to the National Weather Service (NWS) in July of this year.
So, were the 2025 floods worse than in previous years?
Yes, in some places.
In the US, for example, flooding does appear to have worsened steadily for the past few years. According to Nasir Gharaibeh, a professor of civil and environmental engineering at Texas A&, M University, the period between January and September 2025 saw the highest number of flood and flash flood events and the highest number of associated human casualties in five years.
From January to September, there were 7, 074 floods in the US, which caused 242 deaths, according to the Storm Events Database, which is managed by the US National Weather Service (NWS) of the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
There were 6, 551 floods in the same time last year, resulting in 151 deaths. In 2023, there were 5, 783 floods, which caused 93 deaths for the same period. 4 548 floods in 2022 left 102 people dead.
However, experts said that in other regions in the world, 2025 was not much worse than previous years.
South Asia and East Asia have experienced dramatic years, according to Professor Daanish Mustafa of King’s College, London.
“Nowhere did I hear that any flood flow record was broken. It’s just that flood plains were more urbanised, rivers more regulated, where the regulatory infrastructure failed, as in Sri Lanka and India,” said Mustafa.
Why were floods so severe in 2025?
Experts told us throughout the year that a number of factors contributed to the 2025 floods. “Flooding is a complex hazard. Gharaibeh argued that there are interactions between a number of factors, including weather, infrastructure, land cover, topography, and other factors.
Climate change is a major factor in causing weather events, researchers say. In 2025, “the specific triggers varied from city to city, yet one single, universal force multiplied them all: climate change, which supercharges rainfall extremes,” said Bhattarai.
Climate change is causing monsoon rains to intensify, for example, resulting in more frequent extreme precipitation events. This is because more water is stored in the atmosphere, making for longer downpours when the weather is in the high 70s.
In northern Pakistan, these higher temperatures are also accelerating glacial melting, which increases the likelihood of glacial lake outburst floods (GLOFs).
Additionally, according to Abdullah Ansari, a research professor at Sultan Qaboos University in Muscat, Oman, “research has shown that earthquake-induced vulnerabilities can increase by triggering landslides, causing damage to access routes, and causing disruption to communication lines,”
“The year was further distinguished by unusual patterns, including late-season monsoon floods, rare cyclonic activity, and extreme rainfall in regions not traditionally prone to flooding”, Bhattarai said.
However, the full picture is not always accurate.
“This global driver met a local vulnerability: Urban landscapes fundamentally unequipped for the new reality. The result was a rise in flash floods, which resulted in severe downpours that turned into city-wide disasters, according to Bhattarai.
“While climate change plays a critical role in intensifying flooding events in Pakistan, other factors such as urbanisation, deforestation, inadequate infrastructure, and poor river management also contribute significantly”, Ayyoob Sharifi, a professor and urban scientist at Hiroshima University in Japan, told Al Jazeera in August.
Additionally, flooding can be worsened by inadequate drainage systems and early warning systems.
A rise in the number of flash floods has also caused greater damage.
Gharaibeh told Al Jazeera, “We are seeing a higher number of flood-related casualties in the US, in part due to an increase in flash flooding brought on by rainfall,”
“Flash floods often occur with little warning, and the flood water flows with high velocities and destructive force, making them among the most dangerous natural hazards”, he added, explaining that the level of danger is measured by the ratio of deaths to people affected.
Overall, Bhattarai described the devastating flooding of 2025 as a “comedy of intense meteorological events and long-term human decisions.”
“On the weather side, the primary drivers have been cloudbursts and stalled rain systems. Due to record daily rainfall totals that overwhelm drainage systems in a matter of hours, these phenomena produce short-duration, high-intensity rainfall.
But human development has dramatically amplified the damage caused by floods, he said.
Nature’s safety buffers have been eliminated due to decades of river encroachment and floodplain conversions into urban land. Rivers, now constricted and unable to spread out, surge with greater force and speed into populated areas that were once natural absorption zones.
We have basically built cities in the water’s path before removing all of its escape routes, causing disastrous floods due to heavy rain.
How can we improve flood responses in future?
According to experts, governments will have to adapt to the new weather patterns, which are causing more frequent and intense rainfall and flooding, as well as alter their strategy to withstand floods.
Mustafa said:” Societies are continuing on their path of trying to fight floods, regulate rivers and build obstructive infrastructure in flood plains. All of these efforts have failed and will continue to fail. But I fear the societies will continue apace.
Don’t try to fight floods; learn to live through them. Don’t try to control and restrict river flows, give rivers room to flow”, he advised.
High-frequency, low-intensity events can and have been engineered away by society. But in the process, they’ve made low-frequency, high-intensity events much worse. And this is especially devastating in the current climate change, where all of your historical patterns, which constitute the foundation of infrastructural design, are pointless.
Mustafa explained that infrastructure such as dams, levees and barrages are built to handle floods of a certain size and frequency.
He explained that these are designed for events lasting 100, 500, or 1000 years, i.e., events with a one-percent, 0.5%, or 0.1 percent, respectively, chance of recurrence in any given year. He added that most infrastructure is designed for 100-year events.
To construct this infrastructure, engineers make use of historical data from natural disasters.
“Assumption is that historical trends will continue into the future. That assumption is untrue because of climate change, according to Mustafa.
Bhattarai said the 2025 floods underscored the need for faster, community-focused responses with clear local warnings, stronger coordination, urban-specific plans, protection of vulnerable groups and safer rebuilding that reduces future flood risks.
According to Gharaibeh, appropriate solutions will depend on where the floods are occurring in the world.
“Some parts of the world should start investing in their flood control infrastructure, including roadway systems, where roads are used as ‘ drainage channels’. Better warning systems should be developed in other parts of the world.
Gharaibeh explained that since funding is usually limited, controlling floods requires prioritisation of investment.
Because of their long history of flooding issues, nations like the United States and Japan, for instance, have established robust flood control infrastructures and continue to do so.
Even so, recent flash flood events, such as the flood that affected Texas in 2025, indicate that countries like the US should invest more in building better warning systems.
Thailand has released 18 Cambodian soldiers it had detained since July, three days after the two countries agreed to a renewed ceasefire to end weeks of deadly border clashes.
