35.1 C
Delhi
Thursday, March 28, 2024

Heavy rains in China displacing 1.75 million, touches India now

AsiaHeavy rains in China displacing 1.75 million, touches India now

With around 15 dead with millions displaced in the China floods disrupting daily life, India too is undergoing heavy torrential rains.

During the  China floods,  around 1.75 million residents across the area have been affected by the floods, with 120,000 safely evacuated while 15 lost their lives and around millions of people remain displaced.

This was unseasonably torrential rain and flooding in north China’s Shanxi province earlier this month, local officials said Tuesday, after the normally dry region received three months’ rain in one week.

The flooding submerged the coal-rich landlocked region during a nationwide energy crunch, and after record, floods killed more than 300 people in central Henan province in July.

At least 60 coal mines in the province – one of China’s top coal-producing regions — had temporarily closed due to the floods, but now all but four have returned to normal operation, local emergency management official Wang Qirui said at a press conference.

Wang said around 19,000 buildings were destroyed by the extreme weather, with 18,000 others “seriously damaged”.

“Fifteen people died due to the disaster, and three people remain missing,” he added.

At least 1.75 million residents across the province have been affected by the floods, with 120,000 safely evacuated, according to Wang.  Shanxi received more than three times the average monthly rainfall for October in just five days last week, with the provincial government saying precipitation had broken records in multiple localities.

Several regions across China have been hit by unprecedented flooding this year.

Thousands were evacuated in the Hubei and Sichuan provinces this summer because of torrential rain.

And more than 300 people were killed in central China’s Henan province last month after record downpours — a year’s worth of rain in three days.

Experts say freak weather events such as heavy floods and punishing droughts are becoming increasingly common because of climate change.

In India, although the monsoon season ends with September, a delayed withdrawal and other factors have been causing heavy rainfall in several states. A look at trends and forecasts in Delhi, Kerala, and elsewhere.

Kerala took the worst toll of the floods with loss of lives and damaged properties.  Heavy stormy dense clouds permeate gray gloomy skies as people travel in ferries in Kochi, Kerala, Monday and the southwest monsoon is yet to retreat in Kerala; however, it is followed by the northeast monsoon that runs well into the winter months.

All over India, there is heavy rainfall.  Delhi, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, and Uttarakhand, for example, have received very high rainfall in the last few days, resulting in loss of life and property in some places. Delhi has just had one of its wettest 24-hour periods in several decades.  In parts of West Bengal, closer to Darjeeling, heavy rains with lightning strikes at day and nights, while rain pours nonstop over areas. October has never seen such a wet month.

Scientists say a combination of factors — delayed monsoon and development of low-pressure areas at multiple places — have resulted in these rainfall events at several places.

Check out our other content

Check out other tags:

Most Popular Articles