Kerala's worst flood since 1924 reinforces how local environmental degradation and lack of disaster preparedness can make extreme weather events deadly.
On August 19, for the first time in the preceding 11 days, satellite images of Kerala captured fractures in the cloud cover. The state government lifted the red alert consequently. The fragmented clouds over the state unearthed the real devastation. Everybody had one question: was it normal?
“It is abnormal but not unusual,” says DS Pai, the head of climate services division of the India Meteorological Department ( IMD). Official response is always presented using the tact of terminology. Over 11 straight days of tempestuous rainfall, nearly 25 trillion litres of water fell on Kerala—an area of 38,800 square kilometres cramped with mountain ranges; third-highest population density in the country; and, 44 rivers with 61 dams—with apocalyptic fury.
A ravaged landscape
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