Widespread extreme rain events across central India have tripled since 1950. These severe weather events result in large scale floods and catastrophic loss of life and property across central and northern India – Gujarat, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Telangana, Odisha, Jharkhand, Assam and parts of Western Ghats – Goa, north Karnataka and South Kerala.
There have been 285 reported flooding events in India over 1950-2017 affecting about 850 million people, leaving 19 million homeless and causing the deaths of about 71,000 people.
The total damage during this period is about 60 billion USD. The loss per year has been increasing – and during the last decade the damage due to floods has been about 3 billion USD per year.
The rise in extreme rainfall events is taking place over a region where the total monsoon rainfall is decreasing. The fact that this intensification is against the background of a declining monsoon rainfall makes it catastrophic, as it puts several millions of lives, property and agriculture at risk.
