Survey of Flood Affected Areas | 29 Jul 2024

Why in News?

Recently, Uttarakhand Chief Minister directed the officials to immediately identify "sensitive" villages and relocate the affected people to safer places in view of heavy rains and landslides in parts of the state.

Key Points

  • According to the officials, Cloudbursts in Pauri Garhwal’s Toli, Bodh Kedar, and Tehri Garhwa’s Jakhana and Tingarh caused massive destruction.
  • Action is being taken to streamline the electricity and drinking water arrangements in the disaster affected area and Rs 57,500 have also been given to livestock owners for animal loss.

Cloudbursts

  • About:
    • Cloudbursts are short-duration, intense rainfall events over a small area.
    • It is a weather phenomenon with unexpected precipitation exceeding 100 mm/h over a geographical region of approximately 20-30 square km.
    • In the Indian Subcontinent, it generally occurs when a monsoon cloud drifts northwards, from the Bay of Bengal or the Arabian Sea across the plains then on to the Himalaya that sometimes brings 75 millimeters of rain per hour.
  • Occurrence:
    • The relative humidity and cloud cover is at the maximum level with low temperature and slow winds because of which a high amount of clouds may get condensed at a very rapid rate and result in a cloudburst.
    • As temperatures increase, the atmosphere can hold more and more moisture and this moisture comes down as a short very intense rainfall for a short duration probably half an hour or one hour resulting in flash floods in the mountainous areas and urban floods in the cities.