Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao on Sunday hinted at a ' foreign conspiracy' to cause cloudbursts triggering floods. He said this while he was visiting the Bhadrachalam region Telangana after a week of rain resulted in floods. While talking to reporters, KCR said the cloudbursts are a 'new phenomenon'. "We don't know how true is it that people from other countries are deliberately doing cloudburst in our country," he said, adding that such incidents happened in the past in Kashmir, Ladakh-Leh and Uttarakhand.
"We are getting some reports that they are doing it in the Godavari region," he was quoted as saying.
A week of incessant rains left several parts of Telangana flooded. According to reports, the water levels in the temple town of Bhadrachalam flowed several feet above the flood warning. KCR visited the flood-hit Bhadrachalam and performed a "shanti puja" for the overflowing river Godavari.
What is a cloudburst?
When the amount of rain over a particular region exceeds 100 millimetres per hour, it is called a cloudburst, according to IMD. "Cloudburst occurs when moisture-rich air travels up a mountainous region, forming a vertical column of clouds known as Cumulonimbus clouds. These clouds usually cause rain, thunder and lightning," DownToEarth magazine states. The extreme rain in a short span of time over a geographical region of around 20 to 30 square km has the potential of triggering floods.
The cases of cloudbursts have been increasing over the past few years in the Himalayan region. Recently, cloudburst and subsequent flooding near Baltal base camp en route Amarnath cave in Kashmir claimed over 14 lives and left 44 injured.
What causes cloudbursts?
While cloudbursts are a natural climatic phenomenon, the climate change and warming up of oceans had led to a spike in their occurrence. Increased temperature of the Indian ocean is causing the moisture-rich air reaches the Himalayan region, according to experts. The rising temperature of the Indian Ocean is a clear indication of climate change, a report in DTE quoted Munir Ahmad from Indian Institute of Technology, Srinagar.
Cloudbursts mostly occur at elevations between 1,000-2,500 metres above sea level, according to DTE.
Cloudbursts in India
Cloudbursts in Himalayan region have wreaked havoc in the past decade or so. In August 2010, 71 towns and villages were damaged after cloudburst and heavy downpour triggered floods there. Over 250 people were killed, while 200 others were reported to be missing. any were rendered homeless.
Three years later, in 2013, a cloudburst in Uttarakhand left 5000 people dead. It was a major disaster that left behind a trail of destruction in the hilly state.
Last year several cloudbursts were reported from the Himalayan region. Between January and July 2021, at least 26 cloudbursts were reported from Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand.