India recorded extreme weather events on 242, or 88.6%, of the 273 days between January 1 and September 30 this year, a report by not-for-profit think tank Centre for Science and Environment said on Tuesday.
The extreme weather events, as classified by the India Meteorological Department, include lightning and thunderstorm, heavy to very and extremely heavy rainfall, landslide and floods, cold waves, heat waves, cyclones, snowfall, dust and sandstorms and squalls, hailstorms and gales.
The “India 2022: An Assessment of Extreme Weather Events” report, in collaboration with Down To Earth magazine, found that these events have claimed 2,755 lives, destroyed 1.8 million hectares of crop area, damaged 4,16,667 houses and killed nearly 70,000 livestock.
The researchers said that while the figure for extreme weather events was a realistic estimate, the loss and damage are undercounted.
They said that media reports suggested widespread crop loss in Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Gujarat during the monsoon season but the Centre’s report claimed that there have been no losses in the state.
“The absence of a robust public database on extreme weather events in the country poses difficulties in the evaluation of disaster situations and their impacts,” the report said.
It also showed that the highest number of human deaths were recorded in Himachal Pradesh at 359 although the most extreme weather events were reported from Madhya Pradesh which faced a disaster every second day.
Madhya Pradesh and Assam reported 301 human fatalities each. Assam reported the highest number of damaged houses and animal deaths. Karnataka, which experienced extreme weather events on 82 days, accounted for over 50% of the crop area affected in the country.
The report also said India recorded its seventh wettest January this year since 1901.
“This March was also the warmest ever and the third driest in 121 years,” it added. “It was also the country’s third-warmest April, 11th warmest August and 8th warmest September since 1901.”
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