After Tuesday’s pouring rain, a few weather experts in the city claimed it a ‘cloudburst’ as it met the protocol. Cloudburst is defined when 100 mm of rainfall takes place in one hour over a 20 sqkm region. Experts have claimed that the city witnessed more than 100 mm rains between 1.30 pm and 2.30 pm which was a clear cloudburst. However, India Meteorological Department (IMD) defers the claims.

 

According to the Weather Department, 104.5 mm rains took place in city between 11.30 am and 2.30 pm on Tuesday which does not fit in the protocol of cloudburst. As per IMD, the city witnessed 3.6 mm of rains between 8.30 am and 11.30 am, then 104.5 mm during 11.30 am and 2.30 pm and 71.6 mm of rains during 2.30 pm and 5.30 pm on Tuesday. According to an expert, “Department gets the monsoon data in the interval of every three hours. We get the details of cloudburst through Self Recording Rain Gauge (SRRG) which continuously measures and records the depth, onset, duration, and intensity of rainfall against time.”

 

“When a meteorological cloudburst occurs, agencies follow institutional disaster management frameworks like those from National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA). In this situation, the administration directs populations away from low-lying areas, steep slopes, and dry natural drainage channels towards higher ground” said the expert. To declare it a cloudburst, the Weather Department has to be sure and it is possible only through SRRG which will be cleared after 24 hours, he further added.