Torrential rainfall and widespread flooding in Gujarat
Gujarat has been grappling with torrential rainfall and widespread flooding, killing 8 people and displacing hundreds of residents. On August 26, Gujarat state received 91.3 mm rainfall which is 1764 percent more than the normal, according to data from the India Meteorological Department (IMD).
Districts along Gujarat’s north and northeast such as Morbi, Vadodara, Anand, Panchmahals, Kheda, Kuchch, Rajkot, Jamnagar and Mahisagar received heavy rainfall, making it some of the wettest areas. The highest rainfall of 206 mm occurred in Morbi district, which was 9264 percent more than the normal rainfall for the day.
All this rainfall including the current floods in many parts of Gujarat and some parts of Rajasthan have been caused by a land-based deep depression and aided by moisture influx either from the soils along its path or from the Bay of Bengal or the Arabian Sea.
A deep depression is a cyclonic system with wind speeds of 51-62 km/hr that usually forms over the sea as one of the precursors to a tropical cyclone (which has wind speeds of 62-88
km/hr) but its formation and intensification on land is rare.
The rarity of formation of a deep depression over land is because of lack of abundant moisture required for the system to grow in size, generate winds and collect rainfall as compared to the sea.
Only six land based deep depressions have formed over India in the last decade, according
to data from the IMD, analysed by Down To Earth.
There have been two land based deep depressions in the past month. The first system formed as a cyclonic circulation on July 31 over West Bengal and tracked up to Rajasthan where it dissipated on August 6. It had caused flooding all along its path. While the first system moved in a westward direction, normal for such depressions during the monsoon, the second system has moved southwestward after its initial westward movement which is rare.
“The formation of the deep depression is mainly due to abundant moisture supply from the Arabian Sea and also soil moisture plays a role in its intensification”, climate experts from the weather blog Vagaries of Weather told Down To Earth.
The state of Gujarat is on a red alert till August 29, with the IMD predicting even more rainfall for the next few days.
Down to Earth is Science and Environment fortnightly published by the Society for Environmental Communication, New Delhi. We publish news and analysis on issues that deal with sustainable development, which we scan through the eyes of science and environment.
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