New Delhi, June 5- Northeast India has been reeling under the monsoon fury with states of the region struggling with severe floods and landslides triggered by continuous heavy rainfall.
Among the NE states, Assam is the worst-affected.
Northeast flood fury is another grim reminder of how global warming climate change and human hand are affecting mother nature.
Flash floods and landslides that followed torrential monsoon rains destroyed livelihoods and claimed many lives.
According to the IMD, rains are expected to continue in Assam. In any case it is the season of June-September four-month seasonal rains.
But it is not just the seasonal rains that are wreaking havoc across Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Sikkim, Manipur, and Tripura.
In several parts, especially Assam, major rivers and their tributaries are flowing above danger levels and there are reasons, other than monsoon, behind it.
Nature, climate change, human hand
This year, the monsoon rains arrived early over Kerala, which has happened many times in the past.
But monsoon’s arrival simultaneously over Kerala and NE is quite an uncommon phenomenon.
This year monsoon made an early onset over Kerala on May 24, marking its earliest arrival since 2009 and eight days ahead of the June 1 onset date. And it reached Mizoram on the same day as Kerala, 12 days ahead of its normal schedule.
Normally southwest monsoon advances over most parts of NE by June 5.
The reasons for the early rains and subsequent flood fury can be related to climate change and global warming but to an extent geographical/topographical factors of the region are also responsible. The hilly terrain and steep slopes facilitate rapid runoff during heavy rains, leading to flash floods and landslides.
As it is, the area receives substantial rains, often exceeding the land’s absorption capacity. Major rivers like Brahmaputra and Barak and tributaries coursing through the region frequently overflow during the monsoon season.
Then is the human hand—deforestation and land use changes—that worsened the matters. Experts say human activities have not only reduced natural vegetation cover but also land’s ability to absorb.
The bottom line is, climate change and global warming are changing monsoon patterns and exacerbating frequency and intensity of floods.
