Cloudburst Could Lead To New Disaster In Kerala, Say Experts.
Weather experts Forecasters said the cloud caused heavy rains in several places in the districts of Kottayam and Idukki. Cloudburst is a model of heavy rain over a limited area in a short period of time.
Over the past four years, Kerala has experienced a number of natural disasters. Disasters seem to happen in this country every year. In August 2018, a major flood often referred to as the flood of the century claimed 483 lives.
In August 2019, 48 people died after part of a hill fell in Kavalappara near Nilambur in the Malapuram region, and in August 2020 74 people died in Pettimudi, Iduki district after a landslide destroyed a plantation workers settlement. In October 2021, two landslides in Iduki and Kotayam districts claimed many lives. But residents of Kootical and Kokkayar, the two neighborhoods affected, said the tragedy was their first visit.
Forecasters said the cloud caused heavy rains in several places in the districts of Kottayam and Idukki. Cloudburst is a model of heavy rain over a limited area in a short period of time. “The rain pattern indicates that it is raining. Some areas in Iduki and Kotayam dropped more than 8 inches in two or three hours,” said dr. MG Manoj, head of the Center for Advanced Atmospheric Radar Research at the University of Science and Technology in Cochin.
“We need long-term and short-term strategies to deal with such tragedies. Usually in the construction of houses, research on soil or earth channel phenomena is not carried out. Appropriate geological reports are now required at least for new housing units,” said Dr. Manoy, added that in times of change everyone faces the unexpected. “We can reduce the intensity of disasters by listening to early warnings and conveying them to the target group. We need more research on risk reduction,” he said, adding that there were no serious studies on land use in India.
After the Kavalapara tragedy in 2019, many experts said the underground pipeline network was widespread in many parts of the state, but no serious research was conducted. “The downpipe and lateral spread (this happens when the ground starts to move downwards) are more visible in Kerala these days. Both are a recipe for major catastrophe. Like the cloud model, the land model is also subject to ocean changes,” said Dr V. Nandakumar from the National Center for Earth Science Research, “We can’t control rain. But we can reduce the damage caused by extreme rainfall.” Human intervention is key in multiplying the damage in many places, he said.
Recently, in Kozhikode (North Kerala), there was a mysterious sound and vibration in a newly built house. Geologists and other experts later inspected the houses and found that they may have been triggered by a dirt pipe or pipe spreading to the side, and urged residents to leave the area for more in-depth study.
Although natural disasters are mostly caused by climate change, many environmentalists say that human intervention is partly responsible for repeated accidents. They say that many landslides are caused by unscientific developments in environmentally sensitive areas. They complain that such relevant issues only arise in one tragedy and are forgotten until the next one occurs.
Renowned environmental scientist Dr. VS Vijayan, member of the Western Ghati Experts Group, said Kerala is experiencing a man-made disaster and its impact will be limited if the Gajil Committee’s recommendations aimed at protecting the environmentally vulnerable Western Ghats mountains are taken seriously. He said Kerala needs to prepare for more disasters if the situation continues.
“In fact, nothing can stop the rain or control the flooding. Such tragedies will increase due to climate change. We have seen heatwaves in several western states. But we can take steps to reduce the intensity of such tragedies. “Career and unbridled development activities are still on the rise in many environmentally sensitive areas of Kerala,” said Vijayan.
In 2010, the Union Ministry of Environment established a panel of experts, led by renowned environmental scientist Madhav Gadgil, after the Western Ghats, a UNESCO World Heritage Site that played a key role in breaking the rain clouds over the subcontinent, rapidly shrunk. When the six countries in the Ghat region (Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Goa, Maharashtra and Gujarat) opposed the Gajil group’s recommendation, another committee was formed under former ISRO boss Kasturirangan. More recently, many countries have also objected to reports of a weakening of Kasturirangan, and both have been kept in government cabinets for years.
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