New Delhi, (APP – UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News – 13th Aug, 2024) Torrential storms lashing South Asia have killed hundreds of people since June, official data showed on Tuesday, with floods and landslides causing widespread devastation during the treacherous monsoon season.
Weather disasters are common during the monsoon season from June to September, but experts say climate change is increasing their frequency and severity.
The deaths include at least 250 in India, 171 in Nepal and 178 in Pakistan, according to official figures in each country.
In India, just months after the country plunged into its longest heat wave on record, according to government climate experts, fierce storms have triggered floods and landslides.
The heat wave in May and June saw temperatures in New Delhi beat the capital’s previous record: 49.2C (120.5F) in 2022.
Now the heat has been replaced by the rains.
India’s meteorological department this week warned of “heavy rainfall” over much of the southern and northeastern states.
On Tuesday, rescue teams searched for two missing people after nine drowned when a water source hit Himachal Pradesh state’s Una district.
Witnesses saw a car being swept away like a toy by the swollen muddy river.
“Several people tried to stop the car…as the current increased, but the car sped by and soon the car was swept away by the strong current,” said Rajendra Kumar.
– Floods in the deserts –
Dozens of people have died in India this month alone, while 200 people died in the southern state of Kerala last month when landslides hit villages and tea plantations.
In Nepal, 171 people have died since monsoon rains began in mid-June, including 109 people in landslides.
Other deaths were caused by floods and lightning, according to disaster authorities.
On July 12, searches continued in Chitwan district, Nepal, for two buses swept over concrete barriers in a raging river, killing about 50 people.
Ninety-two children are among the 178 killed across Pakistan since the rains hit in July, with collapsing houses the biggest killer, according to the National Disaster Management Authority.
In the northwestern province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, mountain villages have been warned of the risk of glacial lake flooding this week as temperatures and humidity rise.
From June to September, monsoon rains across the region offer respite from the summer heat and are crucial to replenishing water.
They are also vital to agriculture, and thus the livelihoods of millions of farmers and food security for nearly two billion people in South Asia.
India is the world’s third-largest emitter of greenhouse gases, but has committed to achieving a net-zero emissions economy by 2070 – two decades behind most of the industrialized West.
For now, it is heavily dependent on coal for power generation.
Pakistan, meanwhile, contributes less than one percent to global greenhouse gases but is one of the countries most vulnerable to climate change.
In 2022, catastrophic floods submerged a third of the country under water, killing more than 1,700 people, displacing 33 million and destroying thousands of homes.
(Except translation, this story has not been edited by pipanews staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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