What is Cloudburst?

• Context (IE): Recently, the cloudburst led to a landslide and flash floods in Ramban, Jammu and Kashmir.

About Cloudburst

• Definition: The India Meteorological Department defines cloudburst as the condition where the amount of rainfall over a particular area exceeds 100 millimetres in an hour.
• Climate Change is a major reason behind the increasing Cloudbursts in recent years.
  • As global temperatures rise, the atmosphere can hold more moisture. This leads to more intense, erratic, and sudden rainfall, increasing the frequency and severity of cloudbursts.
• Difficulty in Prediction: Cloudbursts happen in localised areas (over a roughly 10 km x 10 km area), making them difficult to capture accurately.

Mechanism

• Orographic Lift: It is the process by which warm air currents push up clouds already ready to rain. Cloudbursts are more common in hilly areas because of ‘orographic lift’.
• Droplets Grow Bigger: As clouds reach higher elevations, the water droplets within them become bigger, and new ones are formed. Lightning within these clouds helps delay rainfall.
• Rainfall: These dense clouds eventually burst, unable to hold the large volume of moisture. This results in torrential downpours in the geographical region right below.

Major Hazards Caused by a Cloudburst

• Flash Floods: Massive rainfall in minutes causes rivers and streams to overflow instantly, leading to devastating flash floods.
  • Flash floods are again more common in hills, because rocky terrain does not absorb water very well.
• Landslides: Heavy rain loosens the soil on slopes, causing landslides that can block roads, destroy infrastructure, and bury entire areas under debris.
• Mudflows: A dangerous mix of water, soil, and debris flows rapidly down slopes, burying everything from agricultural fields to buildings.
• Land Caving (Subsidence): The excessive water pressure can weaken the ground, causing it to collapse suddenly. This can result in deep cracks, sinkholes, or collapsing hillsides.

Way Forward

• Develop Better Weather Prediction Systems: Advanced forecasting tools can help predict intense rainfall events with greater accuracy, giving people precious time to prepare.
• Strengthen Early Warning Mechanisms: Installing real-time alert systems in high-risk areas, especially in hilly and remote regions, can save lives by enabling timely evacuations.
• Promote Eco-Friendly Construction & Reforestation: Building responsibly in sensitive zones and restoring green cover helps stabilise slopes, improve water absorption, and prevent landslides.
• Educate Communities on Emergency Preparedness: Training locals on what to do before, during, and after a cloudburst can reduce panic and ensure faster, safer responses during disasters.