A vehicle moves through a flooded road after heavy downpour, in New Delhi.
Credit: PTI photo
New Delhi: In its first nine months, India witnessed extreme weather events in 93% of the days – 255 out of 274 days – killing over 3,200 people, the Centre for Science and Environment said on Friday in a new report.
Such events marked by heat and cold waves, cyclones, lightning, heavy rain, floods and landslides also affected 3.2 million hectare of crops, destroyed 2.36 lakh houses and buildings, and killed approximately 9,500 livestock.
The New Delhi-based think tank that used government data and publicly available information to prepare the report notes that the number of such days are increasing.
Last year, out of 273 days in the first nine months, there were 235 extreme weather event days whereas in 2022 the number of such days were 241. The number of people killed due to extreme weather increased by 18% in three years.
According to the India Meteorological Department, 2024 broke many climate records as February recorded its second-highest minimum temperature in 123 years; May saw the fourth-highest mean temperature on record, and July, August and September all registered their highest minimum temperatures. October 2024 was the warmest since 1901.
“Such record-breaking statistics reflect climate change’s impact, where events that used to occur once every century are now happening every five years or even less. This frequency is overwhelming the most vulnerable populations, who lack the resources to adapt to this relentless cycle of loss and damage,” Sunita Narain, CSE director general said, releasing the report.
While the CSE report is neither an exhaustive nor an official one, it provides a clear trend on how the frequency of extreme weather events are on the rise in India.
The past nine months have seen everything from lightning and storms -- spanning 32 states and resulting in 1,021 deaths -- to relentless monsoon rains, which led to flooding across various regions.
In Assam alone, heavy rains, floods and landslides were recorded in 122 days, leaving large parts of the state submerged and communities devastated. Nationwide, 1,376 lives were lost due to floods.
Madhya Pradesh experienced extreme weather for 176 days -- the highest in the country. Kerala recorded the maximum fatalities at 550, followed by Madhya Pradesh (353) and Assam (256).
As many as 27 states and Union Territories saw a rise in extreme weather days in 2024, with Karnataka, Kerala and Uttar Pradesh each experiencing 40 or more additional days of such events.
Regionally, Central India faced the highest frequency of extreme events with 218 days, followed closely by the Northwest at 213 days. In terms of lives lost, the Central region had the most deaths (1,001), followed by the Southern Peninsula (762 deaths), East and Northeast (741 deaths) and Northwest (734 deaths).
“This trend is no longer hypothetical -- it is visible in the escalating crises we face today. This report is not good news, but it is a necessary warning, a call to recognise nature’s backlash and the urgent action required to mitigate it," Narain said.