Fifty nine people have been confirmed dead and thousands more have been evacuated to high ground in flooding in Uttar Pradesh State, India, this week. The floods came after the high rainfall associated with the annual monsoon began on Thursday 26 September 2019, rains which have yet to abate. The several rivers in the state have burst their banks, leading to deaths through drowning, building collapses, and Snakebites (Snakes forced out of their natural environments by flooding are at more risk of coming into conflict with Humans).
Flooding in Uttar Pradesh this week. Hindustan Times.
Monsoons
are tropical sea breezes triggered by heating of the land during the
warmer part of the year (summer). Both the land and sea are warmed by
the Sun, but the land has a lower ability to absorb heat, radiating it
back so that the air above landmasses becomes significantly warmer than
that over the sea, causing the air above the land to rise and drawing in
water from over the sea; since this has also been warmed it carries a
high evaporated water content, and brings with it heavy rainfall. In the
tropical dry season the situation is reversed, as the air over the land
cools more rapidly with the seasons, leading to warmer air over the
sea, and thus breezes moving from the shore to the sea (where air is
rising more rapidly) and a drying of the climate.
Diagrammatic representation of wind and rainfall patterns in a tropical monsoon climate. Geosciences/University of Arizona.
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