A number of cloudbursts on May 4, 2021 caused several homes and roads in a number of villages in Uttarakhand’s Chamoli, Tehri and Rudraprayag districts to be flooded with water and debris.
- According to the Down To Earth, Chindol Tok, Band Bazaar and Ganeshnagar in the Binsar valley near Almora were flooded.
What is a cloudburst?
- A cloudburst is a phenomenon that involves an extreme amount of precipitation in a short period of time. Cloudbursts can quickly dump large amounts of water in a small area, and are therefore capable of creating flood conditions.
- If rainfall of about 10 cm or above per hour is recorded over a place that is roughly 10 km x 10 km in area, it is classified as a cloudburst event. And by this definition, 5 cm of rainfall in half an hour would also be classified as a cloudburst.
- Cloudbursts are very localised events hence it is possible that they may not get recorded even by a good network of ground stations.
- Cloudbursts do happen in plains as well, but there is a greater probability of them occurring in mountainous zones.
