Major landslides shook the mountainous area of Meppadi in Kerala’s Wayanad district on Tuesday morning after heavy rains. At least 106 people died, 128 were injured, and hundreds more were thought to be trapped.
One column of Territorial Army has reached the mishap site at 12:30 PM#IndianArmy’s two relief columns with a strength of approx 200 individuals are underway to #Waynad.
Additional efforts based on the request of State government also being mobilised.… pic.twitter.com/P6QY5INHUh
— Southern Command INDIAN ARMY (@IaSouthern) July 30, 2024
Climate Scientist’s Warning on Future Risks in Wayanad
A renowned climate scientist has issued a warning, stating that the creation of deep cloud formations due to the warming of the Arabian Sea may cause unusually heavy rainfall in Kerala in a shorter amount of time and increase the risk of landslides. This concernin revelation comes after a string of landslides in the steep areas of Wayanad district caused by intense rain, which have killed at least 45 people and left many more feared trapped beneath the debris.
The states of Kasargod, Kannur, Wayanad, Calicut, and Malappuram have been receiving significant amounts of rainfall for the past two weeks as a result of the active monsoon offshore trough that has affected the entire Konkan region, according to S. Abhilash, the director of the Advanced Centre for Atmospheric Radar Research at Cochin University of Science and Technology (CUSAT).
Role of Arabian Sea Warming in Extreme Weather
“The soil was already saturated from continuous rainfall, and the formation of a deep mesoscale cloud system off the coast of the Arabian Sea on Monday triggered localized landslides in Wayanad, Calicut, Malappuram, and Kannur,” Abhilash told PTI in an interview.
Abhilash emphasized that the current weather patterns could indicate a similar risk by drawing comparisons between the cloud formations and those observed during the devastating floods in Kerala in 2019. Researchers have noted a pattern in the formation of extremely deep cloud formations over the southeast Arabian Sea that sporadically break inland, akin to what happened in 2019.
Meteorological Data and IMD Observations
These deep clouds are forming because of the destabilization of the atmosphere caused by the southeast Arabian Sea’s growing warmth. The rain-bearing belt has moved southward and away from its historical zone in the northern Konkan region due to atmospheric instability connected to climate change, according to Abhilash. The results of their study show that during the monsoon season, the probability of landslides in the high to mid-land slopes of the Western Ghats in eastern Kerala increases with the intensity of rainfall.
Regarding the current weather, the IMD stated that rainfall values ranging from 19 to 35 centimeters were recorded by a number of automatic weather stations located in the districts of Thrissur, Palakkad, Kozhikode, Wayanad, Kannur, Malappuram, and Ernakulam. “Many IMD automatic weather stations in the affected areas documented rainfall exceeding 24 cm within 24 hours, with some farmer-installed stations recording over 30 cm,” Abhilash stated.