DEHRADUN: In the past week, incidents of cloudburst and heavy rainfall in the hill districts of Uttarakhand, particularly in Chamoli and Tehri, have gave rise to loss of property.
A multi-purpose municipality building caved in and several houses were damaged following a spell of heavy rainfall on Tuesday in Devprayag town of Tehri district.
According to the regional meteorological centre, the state has received 107% more than normal rainfall in the last week, ending May 12, with almost seven hill districts recording more than 100% excess showers.
“We have witnessed isolated incidents of heavy downpour in the hills. In the last one week, !surplus rainfall has been recorded across the state, especially in the hilly districts,” said Rohit Thapliyal, senior scientist at the Met office.
Rudraprayag district witnessed maximum 198% surplus rainfall, followed by Chamoli and Tehri districts with 193% and 169% surplus rainfall, respectively. Dehradun also recorded 74% more than normal showers between May 6 and 12, according to the rain data released by the Met.
“The month of May falls under the pre monsoon season and we usually witness showers and thunderstorm activity during this period. But, there have been heavy spells of showers in the hills in May this year,” Thapliyal added.
The extreme weather condition, sometimes termed as cloudbursts, have hit higher reaches of the state since May 4 and have caused considerable damage in the hilly districts of Tehri,Garhwal, Rudraprayag, Uttarkashi,Nainital and Chamoli
On May 4, heavy showers lashed the upper reaches of Binsar hill area in Chamoli district causing damage in the Ghat market with debris entering many shops and houses. A day after causing heavy damage in Devprayag, an alleged incident of cloudburst was also reported in Nainital district on May 12.
The India Meteorological Department
(IMD) defines a cloudburst as any event where 100mm of rainfall has fallen in a span of an hour over a region that is 20-30 square km in area.
