Extreme weather events prompt Uttarakhand village to demand monitoring

New Delhi/Dehradun, Nov 7 Given the increase in cloudburst and other extreme weather events and lack of weather monitoring stations, equipment, villagers have shot off a letter to the authorities demanding installation of rain gauges and information dissemination in Pauri Garhwal district of Uttarakhand.

Drawing attention to instances of cloudbursts in the area in July and September this year and a similar one in June 2019, disaster hit villagers from Syunsal in Thailisain tehsil of Pauri Garhwal district have said: "The villagers here are terrorised by the prospects of extreme weather and cloudbursts which can happen anytime. This area does not have any system in place to either measure the rainfall or disseminate such information to villagers spread over hills."

"The villagers need awareness and training to manage such situations, save their lives and ensure least damage. There is a need to conduct programmes for awareness," the letter, addressed to the state's Cabinet Minister for Disaster Management and Rehabilitation, Dr Dhan Singh Rawat, said.

The villagers have demanded a weather information centre and rain gauges at minimum five places along with training on disaster management for the residents, especially in remote rural areas, the letter copied to the District Collector, India Meteorological Department's (IMD) station director at Dehradun and the state Chief Minister, said.

Post the 2013 Kedarnath tragedy, there was a sustained effort to increase weather monitoring, as a result of which, the state now has 70 manual gauges, 150 plus automatic weather stations (AWS), automatic rain gauges and just one doppler radar (at Mukteshwar), IMD officials said.

A 2020 IMD study based on data between 1989-2018 has shown that during the south-west monsoon months, the state gets highest rainfall (35 per cent) in July followed by August that gets 33 per cent while June and September receive 15 per cent and 17 per cent, respectively. The Himalayan state gets 79 per cent of annual rainfall during the southwest monsoon season itself, i.e., between June to September. The variability of monsoon or annual rainfall is 21 per cent and 19 per cent respectively, the study had pointed out.

According to Bhim Singh Rawat who is an associate coordinator with South Asia Network for Dams, Rivers and People (SANDRP), "There have been at least three extreme rainfall events locally in the Thailisain block of Pauri Garhwal district in the bordering areas of Chamoli and Almora districts. People have called it cloud bursts, however, sheer lack of monitoring of such events makes it difficult to ascribe as there are no rain gauges in and around the radius of 50 km area between Thailisain in Pauri to Gairsain in Chamoli district."

Reminding that there have been instances when very heavy rainfall has been recorded as no or scanty rainfall days at the district headquarters, Rawat said, "While there are significant changes in rainfall pattern in the region, the monitoring work essential for robust forecast system is far lagging."

Rawat, who hails from Syunsal village but now works in Delhi, also reiterated the need for an institutional mechanism to disseminate weather related information that too on time that can help minimize the casualties and damage to infrastructure.

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