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Himachal Pradesh's Chamba district on Monday was struck by cloudbursts at least two villages, reportedly killing a 15-year-old boy and prompting evacuation of some houses, officials said Monday. The Chamba district emergency operation centre (DEOC) said Bhadoga and Kandhwara villages were hit by sudden heavy rains in the intervening night of Sunday and Monday, according to news agency PTI report.
Himachal Pradesh disaster management department said that at Bhadoga, Vijay Kumar (15) died and two other people sustained injuries, while at Kandhwara, a PWD bridge over Shalei Kandhwara nullah and agricultural land were damaged. The report further stated that, five houses in the adjacent Gulel village were evacuated due to the overflow of water and people were shifted to safer places.
Meanwhile, in another development, IMD Director General Mrutyunjay Mohapatra on Sunday said that climate change has hampered the ability of forecasting agencies to accurately predict severe events and the India Meteorological Department is installing more radars and upgrading its high-performance computing system to meet the challenge. He also said that though the monsoon rainfall has not shown any significant trend in the country, the number of heavy rainfall events has increased and that of light rainfall events has decreased due to climate change, according to news agency PTI report.
The impact-based forecast will improve to become "more granular, specific and accurate" by 2025 and IMD will be able to provide forecasts up to panchayat level clusters and specific areas in cities in the coming years, the IMD chief told PTI in an interview. "Climate change has increased the instability in the atmosphere, leading to an increase in convective activity -- thunderstorms, lightning and heavy rainfall. The severity of cyclones in the Arabian Sea is also increasing.
"This increase in the frequency of extreme weather events is posing a challenge to forecasters. Studies show that the ability to predict heavy rainfall is hampered due to climate change," he said. "We have put up six radars in the northwest Himalayas and four more will be installed this year. The procurement process is on for eight radars in the northeast Himalayan region, the report said.
(With inputs from PTI)