NEW DELHI: India has been grappling with extreme weather events this year.
Intense, record-breaking high temperatures scorched parts of the country for months, followed by unprecedented floods across the northern and western regions.
Experts are blaming climate change, with reports showing that adverse weather events claimed 2,700 lives in India last year.
The extreme weather has also taken a toll on the nation’s energy sector, with residents having to deal with blackouts as demand for electricity soars.
Last month, New Delhi experienced 110 per cent more rain than normal, pushing the Yamuna River over its banks and leading to the worst flooding India's capital has seen in more than five decades.
Some 25,000 people were evacuated from low-lying areas mostly inhabited by the urban poor.
One such victim was Ms Vidya Devi, who lived in what used to be a thriving urban slum that was home to more than 5,000 people.
Flood waters consumed her entire neighbourhood, forcing residents to flee.
“My granddaughter was howling. She kept saying, ‘let's leave, let's leave’. So we did. I was terrified too. I know many people who were swept away or drowned,” said Ms Vidya, who lived in a shanty in the slum.
“When disaster strikes, you don't think of money. You just save yourself.”
With nowhere to go, Ms Vidya and her neighbours sought refuge in hastily assembled makeshift shelters along one of New Delhi's busiest roads.
Whenever the rain stopped, many made dangerous trips into the water to venture back to their homes to check on the condition of their houses and fish out whatever belongings they could find.
“I went and saw my entire house submerged. It took me years to build that tiny hut. I'm devastated. Even a bird doesn't leave her nest until she's forced to,” she told CNA.
Residents at the makeshift shelters have one common complaint, that they were not warned about the severity of the floods in time.
Climate policy expert Aditya Bahadur said that while New Delhi has an early warning system, it needs to be more accurate.
“We need to have a network of sensors that are low cost and easily available that allow us to monitor the height of water in real time,” said Mr Aditya, principal researcher at the International Institute for Environment and Development, a policy research think tank.
Before the flood, a blistering heat wave had swept across India, killing at least 170 people as temperatures crossed 46 degrees Celsius in parts of the nation.
Aside from the heat, humidity also soared after unseasonal rains, with more moisture in the air making it harder for people to cool down. This causes exertion to be more fatal, leading to increased risks of heart attacks and strokes.
Citizens were asked to stay indoors and avoid working beyond noon.
However, 75 per cent of the country’s workforce depend on heat-exposed labour, and cannot afford to stay in.
For many, even being indoors brings little respite.
Ms Saraswati Roy, a teacher who works in a local primary school earning just US$73 a month, rents a small house in an urban slum – the only accommodation she can afford.
She said the lack of ventilation makes her house unbearably hot in the summer.
“We can’t stay inside. Everyone sits outside all day and night and that’s just as bad because of how densely congested this locality is,” she told CNA.
“There is no ventilation in our homes. Just imagine being inside when there’s no electricity. In peak summer, sometimes the electricity is also gone all night.”
Across India, power cuts are common in the summer months when demand from the use of air conditioning and cooling units surges.
While those with means have access to back-up power, millions like Ms Saraswati do not. Without a full night’s rest, residents said their productivity takes a hit and they earn less.
Experts said the only long-term solution is to make urban planning more inclusive.
“Unless we are really engaging with poor and vulnerable parts of the city that are really on the frontlines of the risk of climate change, we are not going to make much headway. These plans need to be informed with the lived reality of these people,” said Mr Aditya.
Studies have shown that the South Asian nation, the most populous country in the world, is among those most impacted by climate change.
India has witnessed considerable energy sector stress this year due to the extreme weather patterns.
Its northern state of Uttar Pradesh saw its peak electricity demand spike in the past three months amid unrelenting heat.
Sweltering heat forced many to run air conditioners for longer durations, increasing power demand and causing residents in several areas to face daily power outages.
The spike in energy consumption led to another problem – increased carbon emissions.
India relies on coal, one of the dirtiest fuels, to meet more than 70 per cent of its energy needs.
In June, the country generated more than 10,500 million units of electricity from thermal coal sources, leading to roughly 10,000 tonnes in carbon dioxide emissions – equivalent to greenhouse emissions from more than 2,000 petrol cars driven for a year.
The country is currently the world's third largest emitter of fossil fuels after the United States and China.
It has promised to build renewable energy generation structures, but these sources currently add up to less than 30 per cent of installed conventional power generation capacity.
Given the extreme weather patterns, analysts expect continued significant impact on India’s energy systems.