Spatio temporal occurrences of cloud burst in the Himachal Himalaya

The cloud bursts are a common feature in the hills and mountains of the Himalayan region. The exact mechanism of the cloud bursts is yet to be understood. Cloud bursts leads to flash floods, landslides, uprooting of trees, house collapse, dislocation of traffic and bridges. Himachal Himalaya experienced devastating flash floods, from a spate of cloudburst events which killed hundreds of people. The Himachal Himalaya has experienced a number of incidences of Cloudburst since its inception in 1971. Typical terrain of this Himalayan state provides a conducive environment for the cloudburst phenomena. These disastrous events have brought heavy toll to the state as the loss was estimated in several thousand millions of rupees and also killed several hundreds of people besides large number of cattle heads. The study focuses on the Himachal Himalaya where cloud bursts are increasing in both their frequency and magnitude. Keeping this problems in view, this paper comprises three objectives. They are: They are: a) to record the temporal incidences of cloud burst in Himachal Himalaya, b) to analyse the spatial pattern of cloud bursts in the Himachal Himalaya, and c) to analyze the mechanism and causes underlying cloudbursts and their impact. The study is based on secondary data which is collected from disastrous weather events published by Indian meteorological Department. The methodology adopted includes simple tabulations and mapping to reflect the trends and spatial patterns simulated by using GIS technology. The incidence and intensity of cloud bursts in different areas have been divided into three different intensity zones, such as, less, moderate and high. Based on the intensity of cloud bursts in different zones, appropriate measures to reduce the adverse impacts of cloud bursts can be adopted.