More than sixty dead in Indian heatwave.

More than sixty people have died in a heatwave affecting northern and central India this week. Sustained temperatures in excess of 45°C have been recorded across much of the region, with some areas experiencing peaks in excess of 50°C, although a record-breaking 52.9°C temperature recorded in Delhi on Wednesday 29 May 2024 has now been confirmed to have been erroneous; the correct temperature should have been a comparatively 'mild' 49.9°C.

A patient being treated for heatstroke in a hospital in Ahmedabad, Gujarat State, this week. Reuters.

At least 23 of the people who have died are reported to have been election officials, obliged to remain at their posts, often outdoors in direct sunlight, throughout the day while polls are carried out. In Odisha State twenty-six people have died of suspected heat-related conditions, many of them truck-drivers who remained in hot vehicles. In Bihar State fourteen people are reported to have died of heat-related conditions, including ten polling officials. In Uttar Pradesh thirteen people have died of heat related conditions. Eight people have been confirmed to have died of heat-related conditions in Jharkhand, with more than 1300 others hospitalised. Four people are reported to have died of heat-related conditions in Rajasthan. 

Residents of Delhi queueing to collect water from a tanker this week. Getty Images.

Many areas of India, including Delhi are also suffering from extreme water-shortages at the moment, hampering people's efforts to keep hydrated in the extreme heat. The combination of extreme heat and drought has led to forest fires raging across parts of northern India and neighbouring Pakistan (where temperatures in excess of 52°C have been recorded in several places this week). The monsoon rains are reported to have arrived in Kerala on Friday 31 May, which may bring some relief to central parts of the country, though the heatwave in the north is predicted to continue for another week. This year's monsoon is also expected to be particularly severe, driven by the high temperatures, and will likely bring a new set of problems.

A forest fire in Uttarakhand on Wednesday 29 May 2024. Press Trust of India.

The high temperatures experienced in the past year have been linked to a combination of anthropogenic global warming, driven by emissions of carbon dioxide and methane, with an El Niño - Southern Oscillation climate system over the Pacific Ocean, a natural phenomenon which also tends to drive temperatures upwards. However, the El Niño system appears to have been weakening over the past months, with sea surface temperatures over the eastern equatorial Pacific actually being lower than the average for 1990-2020, while global temperatures have continued to rise, suggesting that the El Niño system may be playing as large a role in driving this year's high temperatures as previously assumed.

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Possible meteorite lands in field in Bihar State, India.

A probable meteorite has been handed to the Bihar Museum in Patna after falling in a paddy field in the village of Mahadeva in Madhubani District, Bihar, on Wednesday 24 July 2019. The object is described as weighing about 15 kg, light in colour, and magnetic, which suggests that it may be an iron or nickel-iron meteorites, or octahedrites, which are the most common class of meteorite, and left a hole over a metre deep where it landed. The object is currently on display in the Bihar Museum, though it is planned to send it on the the Srikrishna Science Center to be studied properly.

Villagers in Madhubani District, Bihar, with a possible meteorite that fell nearby on Wednesday 24 July 2019. NDTV.

A meteorite falling from the sky without previously being seen seems unlikely, but a small object entering the Earth's atmosphere in daytime over India would not necessarily produce a bright enough meteor to be seen (a 'meteor' is a bright light in the sky caused by an extra-terrestrial object entering the atmosphere, a meteorite is a piece of rock that is derived from such an object). The brightness of a meteor is caused by friction with the Earth's atmosphere, which is usually far greater than that caused by simple falling, due to the initial trajectory of the object. Such objects typically eventually explode in an airburst called by the friction, causing them to vanish as an luminous object. However this is not the end of the story as such explosions result in the production of a number of smaller objects, which fall to the ground under the influence of gravity (which does not cause the luminescence associated with friction-induced heating).

 Impact crater left by the 24 July 2019 Bihar meteorite. CNN.

These 'dark objects' do not continue along the path of the original bolide, but neither do they fall directly to the ground, but rather follow a course determined by the atmospheric currents (winds) through which the objects pass. Scientists that have witnessed meteors are sometimes able to calculate potential trajectories for hypothetical dark objects derived from meteors using data from weather monitoring services.

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Flooding in Bihar State, India, kills at least 98.

At least 98 people have died and over seven million have been forced to flee their homes in flooding across the state of Bihar in India this week. Twenty people are known to have died in Araria District, fourteen in East Champaran, thirteen in West Champaran, twelve in Madhepura, eleven in Sitamarhi, eight in Kisanganj, five each in Purnea and Madhubani, four in Darbhanga, three in Saharsa, two in Sheohar and one in Supual. The flooding has left many more without access to food and clean water, and washed away many roads and railways, leading the Indian National Disaster Response Force to drop supplies by air in areas where local populations cannot be reached in any other way.

People affected by flooding in Bihar State, India, this week. Times Now.

The flooding has been triggered by heavy rainfall in Nepal, associated with the Asian Summer Monsoon, which has caused the Koshi, Mahananda, Gandak, Bagmati and Ganga rivers to swell and breach their banks in many places, and made worse by high rainfall across Bihar itself.

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. This situation is particularly intense in South Asia, due to the presence of the Himalayas. High mountain ranges tend to force winds hitting them upwards, which amplifies the South Asian Summer Monsoon, with higher winds leading to more upward air movement, thus drawing in further air from the sea. 

Diagrammatic representation of wind and rainfall patterns in a tropical monsoon climate. Geosciences/University of Arizona.

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Ninety-one confirmed deaths in Bihar flooding.

Ninety-one people have been confirmed dead in flooding in Bihar State this Monsoon Season. Twenty eight of these deaths have been recorded in Purnea District, with 21 death in Kararia District, fifteen in Katihar, eight in Supual, five in Kishanganj, four each in Madhepura and Gopalganj, three in Darbhanga, and one each in Saharsa Saran and Muzaffarpur districts. In addition around 200 000 hectares of crops are reported to have been inundated and about 386 500 people are living in temporary evacuation camps.

A flooded village in Katihar District, Bihar. IANS.

Bihar is India's most flood-prone state, with major flooding incidents happening almost every Monsoon Season. Flooding in the state is driven by heavy rainfall in the mountains of eastern Nepal, which feeds the Narayani, Bagmati, and Koshi rivers, which flow into Bihar, where flooding occurs not on the steep, fast-flowing upper parts of the rivers, but the floodplains below where the rivers flatten out and cross the plains of northern India. This flooding contributes greatly to the fertility of the state's farmland, but a rising population has lead to more and more people living on the floodplains, with consequent problems during the flooding season. This has been made worse by a dam on the Koshi River in Nepal, which holds water for a hydroelectric plant and irrigation projects, but which sometimes needs to release large amounts of water to prevent high waters damaging the structure of the dam.

The Koshi River Dam in Nepal. Krish Dulal/Wikipedia.

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. This situation is particularly intense in South Asia, due to the presence of the Himalayas. High mountain ranges tend to force winds hitting them upwards, which amplifies the South Asian Summer Monsoon, with higher winds leading to more upward air movement, thus drawing in further air from the sea. 

Diagrammatic representation of wind and rainfall patterns in a tropical monsoon climate. Geosciences/University of Arizona.

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Landslide kills one in Darjeeling District, West Bengal State, India.                                       One person has died and another five have been treated for injuries following a landslide at Bhotey Bhir in Darjeeling District, West Bengal State, India...

Multiple deaths after landslide pushes bus into ravine in Rasuwa District, Nepal. Thirty-four people are known to have died, twenty five people are being treated in hospitals and many more people are missing after a landslide swept a bus into ravine in Rasuwa District, Nepal, on...

Landslide hits bus in Palpa District, Nepal, killing at least three.                                  Three people have been confirmed dead after a landslide hit a bus traveling from Palpa to Butwal on the Siddhartha Highway...

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Two workers killed in landslide at Bihar quarry.

Two workers have been killed and 17 others were buried in a landslide at Parharpur in Bihar State, India. The 17 buried workers were dug out by local villagers, and none are thought to have serious injuries. Northern India has suffered a series of often lethal landslides in recent weeks due to an exceptionally severe monsoon. However in this case local authorities are blaming the event entirely on carelessness by the quarry owners. The Parharpur quarry is legal, and produces high-quality sandstones used in the building industry from a series of large pits dug into the flat alluvial plains of the area. However safety concerns have been raised about the site before, particularly a level of silicosis ('miners-lung'; a build up of quartz particles in the lungs which can eventually prove fatal), considered unacceptably high by NGOs.

The approximate location of the Parharpur quarry. Google Maps.

See also Six people killed by landslide in Nainital District, Uttarakhand, Seven killed by landslide in Uttarakhand, Man killed in Kerala Landslide, Three workers killed in landslide at Mumbai quarry and Human Rights Watch reports on mining in India.

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