Mumbai floods: Why India’s cities are struggling with extreme rainfall

Source(s): Live-Mint/Hindustan Times, HT Media Limited

By S Gopikrishna Warrier

As parts of India’s financial capital went under after more than 200mm rainfall – the equivalent of 11 days of average daily monsoon rainfall in 12 hours – on August 29, 2017, the deluge mirrored similar scenes in other cities this month, a consequence of increased concretisation and increasingly variable rainfall patterns, according to various studies.

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Recent research indicates that the intensity of these extreme weather events is increasing, according to Pradeep Mujumdar, chairman, Interdisciplinary Centre for Water Research (ICWaR) at the Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru. Also, the intensity of urban events vis-à-vis non-urban ones is increasing.

“Though it is difficult to attribute any one event to climate change, there is much research results from across the world that is showing that the pattern of multiple extreme events in a season is happening due to the changing climate,” Mujumdar told indiaclimatedialogue.net, a website dedicated to climate-change reportage.

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