‘At 350 deaths, Maharashtra reports the highest toll due to extreme weather events in 2021’
2021 was the fifth warmest year on record since 1901, as per the India Meteorological Department. The Met department also stated that in addition to the five tropical cyclones that formed in 2021, the year was marred with extreme weather events like extremely heavy rainfall leading to floods, landslides, lightning, thunderstorms, and droughts which took lives of 1,750 people across the country.
Data released by IMD also showed that a total of 1,750 deaths were reported across the country due to extreme weather conditions in the last year.
The India Meteorological Department (IMD) in its statement on Climate of India during 2021 highlighted that the state of Maharashtra was the most adversely affected state due to extreme weather conditions during 2021 and reported 350 deaths due to extreme weather conditions. Maharashtra was followed by Odisha and Madhya Pradesh which reported 223 and 191 deaths respectively.
Data released by IMD also showed that a total of 1,750 deaths were reported across the country due to extreme weather conditions in the last year.
Close to 45 per cent of these deaths were due to lightning that killed 780 people from different parts of the country. Eight states that recorded the most deaths due to lightning in 2021 are — Odisha (213), Madhya Pradesh (156), Bihar (89 ), Maharashtra (76 ), West Bengal (58), Jharkhand (54), Uttar Pradesh (49) and Rajasthan (48).
Heavy rainfall and flood-related incidents constituted 43 per cent of deaths and claimed over 750 lives from different parts of the country. Out of these deaths, Maharashtra reported 215 deaths followed by Uttarakhand with 143 deaths, 55 deaths were reported from Himachal Pradesh, 53 from Kerala, and 46 from Andhra Pradesh.
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The weather department noted that in 2021, five cyclones formed over the North Indian Ocean – Tauktae, Yaas, Shaheen, Gulab and Jawad that took the lives of 172 people across the country which means that almost 10 per cent of deaths due to extreme weather events were due to cyclonic storms.
Also, the weather department mentioned that, “The past decade (2011-2020/ 2012- 2021) was also the warmest decade on record with the decadal averaged annual mean temperature anomaly ( Actual-LPA) of 0.340C /0.370C.”
2021 was the fifth warmest year on record since 1901 with annual mean land surface air temperature of the country rising by 0.44°C, as per the Met department . The other four warmest years on record were 2016(+0.71°C), 2009 (+0.55°C), 2017(+0.54°C) and 2010 (+0.53°C) in descending order, it added.
It also revealed that the country’s averaged annual mean temperature during 1901-2001 showed an increasing trend of 0.63°C/100 years with a significant increasing trend in maximum temperature (0.990C/100 years) and a relatively lower increasing trend (0.260C/100 years) in minimum temperature.
Mentioning information about the annual rainfall, the department added that the 2021 annual rainfall over the country as a whole was 105 per cent of its long-period average (LPA) based on 1961- 2010 period. “The southwest monsoon season rainfall over the country as a whole was 99% of its LPA,” it stated.
