In July this year, between 19th and 23rd to be precise, specific regions in South Asia received unprecedented rainfall. How much does ‘unprecedented’ mean? In Henan province of China, rains dumped a year’s quota of waters in just three days, bursting dams, collapsing bridges and drowning people, some even in their cars, subways and homes. 201.9 mm per hour of rain meant it was the worst in centuries. It rained 552.5 mm in Zhengzhou. Millions were left stranded in their homes and offices, and several others lost everything they had- loved ones, livelihood, cattle, crop and belongings.
In Chiplun, a small city in India, which lies on the western edge of the tapering Western Ghats, the mountains that run across India’s western shore before turning east, it rained 98 mm on 19th July, 110mm on the 20th and 164mm on the 21st. On 22 July, the area received rains of 480mm. And on 23 July, 594mm of rain was dumped over the Western Ghats. This heavy rainfall was not just unprecedented, it was cataclysmic. The entire city was drowned, at some places even up to the first floors of concrete houses. People lost their businesses, belongings and loved ones.
In both places (China and India), the water just refused to subside even after days, leaving behind a swathe of slush and debris in its wake.
On several occasions in August 2021, Singapore also saw flash floods in several areas. I’ve been living in Singapore for almost a decade and I had not seen this amount of rainfall since. At the start of 2021, the very first few days of January 2021, rains lasted for over a week bringing the usual hot and humid weather to just around 20 degrees. We all called it as the ‘Sweater Weather’.
Last week of August 2021 and early September saw floods in New York which also resulted in multiple deaths.
Across the world, such incidents are now becoming a common sight. Just a few days ago, Germany witnessed the same fate, though the rainfall was nothing as compared to Asia, bordering round 115 mm per day. Bush fires in the US and Australia, earthquakes, massive rains in very short times, landslides, melting of the arctic ice sheets are all causes for concern, real concern. What is surprising is that the Met departments have not really been able to forecast such disasters, much to the chagrin of the political powers who have to try and shirk the responsibility or blame nature for its wrath. Read more...
