Downpour, death, devastation in North

Karam Prakash

New Delhi, July 10

Incessant rain for the third consecutive day on Monday battered parts of North India, particularly Himachal Pradesh, where landslides and flashfloods claimed four more lives even as the Army and NDRF teams stepped in to intensify the relief and rescue operations.

Editorial: Monsoon fury

The death toll in rain-related incidents in the region over the last three days crossed 30 with six casualties being reported in Haryana and two in Punjab. The downpour resulted in clogging of drains and breach of canals, leading to waterlogging in several places, including Chandigarh, Patiala and Ambala.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke with Himachal and Uttarakhand Chief Ministers Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu and Pushkar Singh Dhami, assuring them of all help and support from the Centre. Sukhu urged the PM to declare the flood crisis in Himachal a national calamity and extend a special economic package.

Hundreds of roads, including the Chandigarh-Shimla and the Kiratpur-Manali national highways, either remained blocked or opened for one-way traffic in Himachal. A total of 39 National Disaster Response Force teams, comprising 30-35 personnel each, have been deployed in the region. Of these, 14 are in Punjab, 12 in HP, eight in Uttarakhand and five in Haryana. In Punjab, Army help was sought in several districts where low-lying areas were inundated and approach roads cut off.

The India Metrological Department (IMD), meanwhile, has predicted a decline in the rain intensity in most parts from Tuesday. The IMD said Himachal was likely to witness only isolated rainfall events while Punjab would not receive much rainfall. The rain activity would shift towards Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, it said. The IMD attributed the extreme rainfall pattern to the confluence of two active weather systemsMonsoon trough running across Indo-Gangetic plains and western disturbance over the western Himalayan region. Experts blamed the rising global warming.

“Global warming is a significant contributor, but there are other factors as well. Firstly, El Nino has taken shape, which is amplifying global temperatures. Wildfires have covered three times more area, thus releasing three times more carbon. Thirdly, North Atlantic Ocean is in a warmer phase. Fourth, the Arabian Sea has warmed unexceptionally since January, infusing more moisture over North-Northwest India. Lastly, the upper-level circulation pattern is also unusual, which forces local surface circulations, bringing rains like the one we are witnessing across north and central India,” said Raghu Murtugudde, earth system scientist and visiting professor at IIT-Bombay.

Krishnan Raghavan, the director of the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology, said, “Both global surface and ocean temperatures have been increasing, causing more evaporation. This has aggravated the rainfall activity manifold. Indo-Gangetic plains have been receiving lots of moisture from the Bay of Bengal as well as from the Arabian Sea. This continuous supply of moisture feeds the weather system, leading to more rain.”