Land features enable flash floods in Himalayas: Study
New Delhi, Aug 6 (PTI) Flash floods in the Himalayas are primarily influenced by the region’s land features, while those occurring along the west coast and in central India are driven by factors that affect water flow, a map of hotspots across the country developed by researchers at the Indian Institute of Technology Gandhinagar shows.
Three-fourths of flash floods occurring across the country are triggered due to extreme rainfall and moist conditions of the ground caused by recent, prolonged rains, the study published in the journal ‘npj Natural Hazards’ found. The remaining one-fourth is solely driven by extreme rainfall, it said.
The extreme weather event is highly local, in terms of area impacted, and spans a short duration between when rainfall starts and when flooding peaks, which is usually under six hours, according to the India Meteorological Department (IMD).
A key finding of the hotspot analysis, the team said, was that extreme rainfall is becoming more common and intense in several basins not prone to flash floods, “highlighting that the warming climate can lead to newer flash flood hotspots in the future”.
The map, described in the study, also identifies the risk emerging in sub-basins that are currently less vulnerable to flash floods.
