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Extreme Weather in India: A Disaster Nearly Every Day

Kiran Pandey and Rajit Sengupta

[From a report published this month by the magazine ‘Down to Earth’ and the Centre for Science and Environment.]

India recorded extreme weather events on 235 of the 273 days from January 1 to September 30, 2023. This means that in 86 per cent of the first nine months of this year, India had an extreme weather event breaking in one or more parts of the country. It also experienced record-breaking temperatures for several months, and regions across the country were deluged because of very heavy and extremely heavy rainfall. This led to floods and the loss of life and livestock. This speaks of the increased frequency and intensity of the extreme events that we are seeing in our rapidly warming world. …

India has seen a disaster nearly every day in the first nine months of this year-from heat and cold waves, cyclones and lightning to heavy rain, floods and landslides. These disasters have claimed 2,923 human lives, affected 1.84 million hectares (ha) of crop area, destroyed over 80,563 houses and killed close to 92,519 livestock. This calculation of loss and damage is probably an underestimate as data for each event is not collated, nor are the losses of public property or crop calculated.

With an event every second day, Madhya Pradesh saw the highest number of days with extreme weather events; but Bihar saw the highest number of human deaths at 642, followed by Himachal Pradesh (365 deaths) and Uttar Pradesh (341 deaths). Himachal Pradesh reported the highest number of damaged houses (15,407) and Punjab reported the highest number of animal deaths (63,649).

Madhya Pradesh has experienced an extreme weather event on 138 days since the beginning of 2023. Despite this, official records indicate no crop area damage. However, media reports suggest that at least 45,000 hectares of crop area were affected. This discrepancy could be due to gaps in loss and damage reporting.

While January remained slightly warmer than average (1981-2010), February exceeded all previous records to become the warmest in 122 years. Northwest India was especially hot, with a 2.78oC temperature anomaly above average (1981-2010). March was modestly warmer for India once again, however, the average minimum temperature in Northwest India was 1.34oC above usual. The country’s mean temperature stayed near average in April and May, with the exception of the South Peninsula, which had the third highest average maximum temperature for April, with an anomaly of 0.77oC. This June was the sixth warmest on record for the country, with the South Peninsula reporting its warmest June on record. In July, the country had its second-warmest minimum temperature in 122 years. August and September were again the warmest ever for the country.

India also recorded its sixth driest February and its driest ever August in 122 years. Meanwhile, March remained unusually wet for Central India and the South Peninsula, with the two regions receiving 206 per cent and 107 per cent of the long-term average (1971-2020) rainfall, respectively.

This is the watermark of climate change. It is not about the single event but about the increased frequency of the events-an extreme event we saw once every 100 years has now begun to occur every five years or less. Worse, it is now all coming together-each month is breaking a new record. This, in turn, is breaking the backs of the poorest, who are worst impacted and are fast losing their capacities to cope with these recurring and frequent events.

In terms of the “nature” of the event, all types of extreme weather have been seen in the past nine months — lightning and storms were reported in all 36 states and Union Territories and claimed 711 lives. Then, every day of the three months of monsoon-from June to August-shows heavy to very heavy and extremely heavy rainfall in some parts of the country. This is why the flood devastation has not sparred any region-in Himachal Pradesh, for instance, vast parts of the state were submerged and people lost lives, homes and sources of livelihood.

This is why the extreme weather report card is important to understand. It tells us of the number of such events; the fact that this will lead to cumulative and extensive damage. And that fact that we need systems to better account for the losses so that climate change and its impact have the human face of their victim.

It speaks of the need to do much more to manage these extreme events-we have to move beyond the management of the disaster to reducing risks and improving resilience. This is why we need more than words to improve the systems for flood management-deliberately building drainage and water recharge systems on the one hand and investing in green spaces and forests so that these sponges of water can be revitalized for the coming storms.

This also speaks of the need to demand reparations for the damage from the countries that have contributed to the emissions in the atmosphere and are responsible for this damage. The models that explain the impacts of climate change are clear that extreme weather events will increase in frequency and intensity. This is what we are seeing today. This report card is not good news. But it needs to be read so that we understand the revenge of nature that we are witnessing today and also understand that it will get worse tomorrow if we do not combat climate change at the scale that is needed.

(Courtesy: Climate and Capitalism, an ecosocialist journal, edited by Ian Angus.)

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US Has Faced a Record 23 Billion-Dollar Extreme Weather Disasters in 2023

Jessica Corbett

As a historically hot summer nears its end, U.S. government scientists on Monday announced that the nation endured 23 separate weather and climate disasters that caused at least $1 billion in damage from January to August—setting a new annual record with four months of the year left.

The previous record was set in 2020, with a year-end total of 22. This year’s billion-dollar disasters so far include 18 severe storms, two flooding events, one tropical cyclone, one wildfire, and one winter storm. The final figure for 2023 could rise, not only because it’s just September, but also because some calculations still need to be finalized, including for Tropical Storm Hilary and a Southern and Midwest drought.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) said that this year’s events collectively “caused 253 direct and indirect fatalities and produced more than $57.6 billion in damages.” Since the federal agency began tracking billion-dollar disasters in 1980, there have been 371 such events, with the total cost topping $2.615 trillion.

Additions to this year’s total since NOAA’s previous update a month ago include the deadliest U.S. wildfire in over a century, which devastated the Hawaiian island of Maui in early August, and Hurricane Idalia, which made landfall in Florida late last month.

Responding to the news from NOAA, Rachel Cleetus, policy director and lead economist at the Union of Concerned Scientists’ Climate and Energy Program, said that “these record-breaking numbers, during a year that is on track to be one of the hottest ever, are sobering and the latest confirmation of a worsening trend in costly disasters, many of which bear the undeniable fingerprints of climate change.”

“They affirm what millions of people around the country already know—the climate crisis is a deadly and expensive reality today,” Cleetus continued. “Our choices about where and how we build and develop are also putting more people and property in harm’s way. Without sharp cuts to heat-trapping emissions and robust investments in climate resilience, the human and economic toll of these kinds of disasters will mount in years to come. The year is far from over, with the busiest part of the hurricane season just getting underway, making it likely that these numbers will climb further.”

Along with the disaster figure, NOAA announced that the United States saw its ninth-warmest August in the 129-year record. For a few states—Florida, Louisiana, and Mississippi—it was the hottest August recorded. It was also Texas’ second-hottest and Alaska’s third-hottest August.

This year also featured the nation’s 15th-hottest meteorological summer—or June through August—on record, with Louisiana enduring its warmest summer and Florida and Texas seeing their second-warmest summers. Florida, Louisiana, and Mississippi also all endured their hottest January-August period, while it was the second-warmest in Alabama, Delaware, Georgia, Maryland, and Massachusetts.

NOAA’s findings follow revelations last week that at the global level, this summer has been the hottest ever recorded and in 2022, greenhouse gas concentrations, sea level, and ocean heat content hit record highs.

As Cleetus noted, they also follow a Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) request for “Congress to urgently allocate additional money for disaster aid as it’s slated to run out of funds this month.”

“This kind of a dire situation is likely to happen year after year as climate change worsens,” she warned. “It’s imperative that U.S. policymakers invest much more in getting out ahead of disasters before they strike rather than forcing communities to just pick up the pieces after the fact. While recent legislation like the Inflation Reduction Act and the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act include some funding for climate resilience, it’s grossly insufficient given the scale of the national challenge we face.”

“Congress and the Biden administration also must ensure funds are reaching the communities disproportionately affected by climate harms, including low-income communities and communities of color,” she added. “The science is clear that adapting to runaway climate change is an impossible feat so we must also sharply curtail the use of fossil fuels that are driving the climate crisis.”

The NOAA report and response come ahead of the United Nations Climate Action Summit in New York City beginning September 20 as well as COP28, the next U.N. conference for parties to the Paris agreement, which is set to be hosted by the United Arab Emirates this November.

Recent disasters and extreme heat leading up to both summits have fueled demands for more ambitious efforts from the international community—but particularly rich countries that have largely created the climate emergency—to ditch oil and gas. With eyes on the NYC meeting, activists are planning a September 17 March to End Fossil Fuels in the city and hundreds of related events across the United States.

The NYC march’s demands for U.S. President Joe Biden are to stop federal approvals for new fossil fuel projects and repeal permits for “climate bombs”; phase out oil and gas drilling on public lands and waters; declare a climate emergency; and provide a just transition.

(Jessica Corbett is a senior editor and staff writer for Common Dreams. Courtesy: Common Dreams, a US non-profit news portal.)