Idukki,
the epicentre of the flooding, recorded the highest rainfall in
Kerala and second-highest rainfall (3,521 mm) of any Indian district
over these 81 days.
Kerala
Floods : Kerala now faces the ravages of the worst monsoon floods
in 94 years, with 373 dead and more than 1.2 million in relief camps
after 2,378 millimetre (mm) of rain over 81 days between June 1 and
August 20, 2018–42% above normal or three times more than the
Indian average for that period–according to data from the India
Meteorological Department (IMD).
Kerala
is facing its worst flood in 100 years. 80 dams opened, 324 lives
lost and 223139 people are in about 1500+ relief camps. Your help can
rebuild the lives of the affected. Donate to https://t.co/FjYFEdOsyl
#StandWithKerala.
With
extreme weather events and variability increasing in urban and rural
India, as IndiaSpend has previously reported, flooding is likely to
become more common, the outcomes attributable as much to poor
planning as climate change. In Kerala, the monsoons have generally
decreased, and that was a reason the state was unprepared for such a
ferocious monsoon, an IMD official told the Times of India on August
21, 2018.
Idukki,
the epicentre of the flooding where 51 died, recorded the highest
rainfall in Kerala and second-highest rainfall (3,521 mm) of any
Indian district over these 81 days, 93% above normal, IMD data said.
The highest rainfall in India was recorded over this period in
Karnataka’s Udupi district (3,663 mm), which, however, was no more
than 18% above its normal.
Kodagu
in Karnataka, where 12 died after the district was ravaged by floods,
faced the heaviest rainfall in 64 years, 290% above normal, between
August 9 to August 15, 2018, according to IMD data.
Kerala
received 255% excess or above-normal rainfall (98.4 mm) between
August 9 and August 15, 2018, five times more than India’s average
for that period, while Karnataka received 80% above-normal rainfall
(50.3 mm) over the same period, 54% above India’s average, IMD data
show.
In
Kerala, 776 villages in 14 districts were flooded, with 1,398 houses
“fully damaged” and 20,148 “partially damaged”, according to
the government.
In
1924, Kerala received 3,368 mm of rainfall over 21 days, a deluge
that appears to have been more intense than the 2,378 mm over 81 days
in 2018. While there is no direct causal link between the latest
floods and climate change, deforestation and human transformation of
flood plains and mountain tops have been implicated.
Climate
change, however, is the larger backdrop against which recent floods
in India have been playing out, with more intense, more uncertain
rainfall.
