VIZAG: India experienced extreme weather events on 93% of days from January to September this year. A recent report by the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), titled ‘State of Extreme Weather 2024’, reveals the rise in the frequency and severity of these events due to climate change, which impacted millions across the country.
In the first nine months, extreme weather events occurred on 255 out of 274 days, affecting nearly every state. The events—ranging from heat and cold waves to cyclones, lightning, heavy rainfall, floods, and landslides—resulted in 3,238 fatalities, damaged 235,862 houses and buildings, affected 3.2 million hectares of crops, and killed approximately 9,457 livestock.
The report compared this year’s figures to the same period in 2023, when extreme weather events were recorded on 235 days. In 2023, the events led to 2,923 deaths, impacted 1.84 million hectares of crops, damaged 80,293 houses, and led to 92,519 livestock deaths.
According to the report, 2024 set multiple climate records. January was India’s ninth driest since 1901, while February registered the country’s second-highest minimum temperature in 123 years. May saw the fourth-highest mean temperature on record, and the months of July, August, and September all posted their highest minimum temperatures since 1901. In Northwest India, January was the second driest month, while July had the region’s second-highest minimum temperature.
In the Southern Peninsula, February was the hottest on record, followed by an exceptionally dry and hot March and April. However, July brought a 36.5% surplus in rainfall, along with the second-highest minimum temperature recorded in August.
Over the past nine months, extreme weather types varied from lightning and storms, which spanned 32 states and resulted in 1,021 deaths, to relentless monsoon rains that caused flooding across various regions. Assam was particularly affected, recording heavy rains, floods, and landslides on 122 days, which left large parts of the state submerged. Nationwide, floods claimed 1,376 lives.
Madhya Pradesh experienced extreme weather on 176 days, the most in the country, while Kerala saw the highest number of fatalities at 550, followed by Madhya Pradesh with 353 deaths and Assam with 256. Andhra Pradesh reported the highest number of houses damaged, with 85,806 buildings affected. Maharashtra, which recorded extreme events on 142 days, accounted for over 60% of the affected crop area nationwide, followed by Madhya Pradesh with 25,170 hectares of crop damage.
Regionally, Central India faced the highest frequency of extreme events with 218 days, followed closely by the Northwest with 213 days. In terms of deaths, the Central region was the worst affected, with 1,001 fatalities, followed by the Southern Peninsula with 762, the East and Northeast with 741, and the Northwest with 734.
The report emphasised the need for climate reparations from high-emission countries, whose activities are responsible for much of the damage. Climate models project that extreme weather events will only become more frequent and severe—a trend no longer hypothetical but visible in the escalating crises today. In the first nine months of 2024, India faced extreme weather on 255 out of 274 days, surpassing the 235 days recorded in 2023 and the 241 days in 2022 during the same period. This increase has led to significant human and economic losses, with 3,238 lives lost in 2024 compared to 2,755 in 2022, marking an 18% rise over just three years.
Necessary warning
The report calls the findings a necessary warning, urging action to address the effects of climate change. “This report is not good news, but it is a necessary warning, a call to recognise nature’s backlash and the urgent action required to mitigate it. Without combating climate change at a meaningful scale, today’s challenges will only worsen tomorrow.”