What Is Cloud Burst / Bursting ?

What Is Cloud Burst / Bursting ?

CloudBurst: A cloud burst is an extreme form of rainfall, sometimes mixed with hail and thunder, which normally lasts no longer than a few minutes but is capable of creating flood conditions. This Cloud Bursting is a sudden rainfall with a fall rate of around 100mm per hour. Usually lasts just a few minutes and is localized within a few kilometers. The dictonary meaning for What is Cloud Burst / Bursting is a sudden heavy rainstorm or a downpour. During a cloudburst, more than 2cm of rain may fall in a few minutes. When there are instances of cloudbursts, the results can be disastrous. Rapid precipitation from cumulonimbus clouds is possible due to so called Langmuir precipitation process in which large droplets can grow rapidly by coagulating with smaller droplets which fall down slowly.

Previous Cloudbursts or Cloud Burst in India:
Cloud burst over the Indian city of Mumbai and other regions of western India, on 26 July 2005, during the 2005 Maharashtra floods. Approximately 950 mm of rainfall was recorded in Mumbai over a span of eight to ten hours; the deluge completely paralysed India’s largest city and financial centre.

On July 18th 2009, Karachi witnessed an intense cloud burst when rainfall occurred in just three hours. The amount of rain was approximately 250mm.

Cloudbursts frequently occur in Himachal Pradesh during the monsoon. The monsoon rains during July and August put a lot of water into the Himalayan soil.

Recent Cloud Burst:
On August 6th 2010, in Leh, a series of cloudbursts left 115 persons dead and over 300 injured in the frontier Leh town of Ladakh region in Jammu and Kashmir. Leh town where at least 115 people were killed and over 300 injured in massive flash floods triggered by a cloudburst. So far, 115 dead bodies have been recovered and the injured are being treated in hospitals. Nearly 100 others, including 25 army soldiers, are missing in the unprecedented cloudburst that hit the town early Friday on August 6, 2010. “Heavy rains have forced us to suspend the rescue operations in Leh town.

Helpline numbers

Leh administration has set up 24-hour control room for information 099 0699 0787 and 099 0699 0835.

Can it be predicted?

There is no satisfactory technique for anticipating the occurrence of cloud bursts (badal fatna in Hindi) because of their small scale. A very fine net work of radars is required to be able to detect the likelihood of a cloud burst and this would be prohibitively expensive. Only the areas likely to receive heavy rainfall can be identified on a short range scale. Much of the damage can be avoided by way of identifying the areas and the meteorological situations that favour the occurrence of cloud bursts.