A catastrophic mudslide swept away an entire village in the Indian Himalayan state of Uttarakhand on Tuesday, taking at least four lives. Rescue crews are searching for several people still missing after flash floods pounded the small settlement.
At about 1:30 p.m. local time Tuesday, officials believe a powerful cloudburst unleashed a torrent of water, mud, and debris that swept through Dharali's mountainside location. The aftermath was nothing short of devastating. Cloudbursts pack destructive force, channeling flash floods through steep slopes and valleys that can overwhelm communities in their path.
"Any sudden and heavy fall of rain, almost always of the shower type," is how the American Meteorological Society defines a cloudburst. "An unofficial criterion sometimes used specifies a rate of fall equal to or greater than 100 mm (3.94 inches) per hr."
The potential cloudburst that may have destroyed Dharali was made worse by the region's topography. Dharali is nestled in Uttarakhand's Uttarkashi district at an average elevation of almost 10,000 feet, positioned within the Bhagirathi valley, where steep hillsides and glacier-carved gorges dominate the Himalayan scenery.
"The news of heavy damage caused by a cloudburst in the Dharali (Uttarkashi) region is extremely sad and distressing," Pushkar Singh Dhami, Uttarakhand's chief minister, posted on X, per Bloomberg.
The Uttarkashi District Magistrate told the Times of India that the Army, National Disaster Response Force, and State Disaster Response Forces were sending personnel to the region ravaged by the flooding. Part of their rescue efforts will include finding possible victims trapped under debris.
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Heat-trapping gases are building up in Earth's atmosphere, acting like steroids, supercharging several extreme weather events around the world. Scientists with World Weather Attribution recently released a study that revealed our overheating planet intensified heavy monsoon rain in Pakistan during June and July. More than nine inches of rain came down in just one day on July 17. The National Disaster Management Authority reported that by early August, there were 300 deaths nationwide as a result of the flooding.
Non-profit Climate Central did an analysis of 150 U.S. locations to determine the change in hourly rainfall intensity since 1970. It found just over 90% of them have experienced an increase, and "rainfall hours became 13% wetter on average across all 150 stations from 1970 to 2022." Hourly rainfall intensity has climbed in every region of the country, with the biggest jumps seen in the Central and Southwestern U.S.
"Heavy downpours bring more rain, faster-causing flash flooding and landslides that can displace families, drown crops, damage infrastructure, and expose people to hazardous debris, contaminants, and water-borne disease," noted the authors of the study. "These events are especially hazardous because their rapid onset limits time to issue warnings and get people out of harm's way."
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