Flash floods in Himachal, landslides in Jammu, and inundated cities in the rest of India have made this year’s monsoon one of the deadliest in recent years.
Scores have lost their lives, thousands have been displaced, and the Indian weather department has warned there's more to come.
And yet, the monsoon—when India receives 80% of its rainfall—is still not over. The season runs officially from June to September.
While floods and landslides are common during the monsoon, the increasingly erratic nature of rains has left climate experts worried.
Instead of uniform rainfall, the Indian subcontinent has been witnessing short bursts of extreme rain in some regions and dry spells in others — a pattern scientists warn will only intensify with climate change.
Unequal rainfall
For example, states like Jammu and Kashmir, Ladakh, Himachal and Mumbai received surplus rains, while the eastern parts like Bihar, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, and Meghalaya recorded deficit rainfall.
Among the worst-affected states is Kashmir. At least 33 have lost their lives in a landslide near the Hindu shrine of Vaishno Devi, on the route taken by pilgrims.
In Jammu and Udhampur regions, swollen rivers have washed away bridges and roads, cutting off entire communities.
Further south, Mumbai endured extreme rainfall over the last week. Between 15 and 19 August, parts of the city recorded 837mm of rain – comparable to the annual average for southern England.
In neighbouring Telangana, heavy rainfall on Wednesday inundated many towns and villages, and brought road and rail traffic to a halt.
Unplanned urbanisation
While climate change has been primarily responsible for such extreme weather events in India, experts have been putting equal blame on unplanned urbanisation.
Encroachment on riverbanks and inadequate drainage systems have turned heavy rains into floods in cities like Delhi and Mumbai.
In the Himalayan regions, rampant deforestation and haphazard construction have destabilised slopes, making landslides and flash floods frequent.
Climate activists say that if these challenges are not addressed, such extreme climate events will become the new normal.
