CLOUDBURST

Kumar Prafull 06AR1003

Ranjitha Shivaram 06AR1004
Index
Defining characteristics
Cause
Past occurences
Vulnerable areas
Damage and effects
Prediction
Prevention
Disaster management
Defining characteristics
Large quantity, small area, short duration

extreme form of rainfall, sudden aggressive rainstorm / thunderstorm.

localized weather phenomena limited to a small geographical area, usually not
exceeding 20–30 sq. km.
lightning and thunder, sometimes mixed with hail.
short period of time (normally lasts no longer than a few minutes).
rainfall rate equal to or greater than 100 mm (4.94 inches) per hour.
occur most often in desert and mountainous regions, and in interior regions of
continental landmasses.
capable of creating disasters- flash floods, landslides.
Cause
Process
• Downdrafts in the cloud begins to dominate over the updraft.
Dissipation
• Warm moist air can no longer rise, cloud droplets can no longer form.
• The storm dies out with light rain as the cloud disappears from bottom to top.
• Cumulus cloud grows, drops become heavy.
• Rain starts when the rising air can no longer hold it up.
• Langmuir precipitation process in which large droplets grow rapidly by coagulating
with smaller droplets which fall down slowly. Mature
• Hail can occur if the cooling is sudden and intense.
• New cool air enters the cloud and descends, creating a downdraft.
• This cloud has become a cumulonimbus cloud because it has an updraft, a
downdraft, and rain.
• Sun heats earth’s surface.
• Adjacent air gets heated, rises.
• Gets cooled at height due to adiabatic expansion , condenses to form a cumulus Cu mulus
cloud.
• Topographical conditions like steep hills favour the formation of these clouds.
Process
Cumulus stage Cloudburst

Mature anvil-shaped cumulonimbus cloud

Past occurences – India
Place Date Injury
Himachal Pradesh August 31, 1960 103 deaths
Badrinath to Haridwar July, 1970 An entire village was swept away.
Uttarakhand
 Shimla district, Himachal August 15, 1997 115 people were killed
Pradesh
Mumbai and other 26 July, 2005 950 mm (37 in) in 8-10 hours,
regions of western India complete paralysis of India's financial centre.
Leh August 6, 2010 179 persons dead and over 400 injured

Almora in Uttrakhand  September 15, Drowned two villages, one of them being Balta
2010
 India – vulnerable areas
• Cloudbursts in India occur when monsoon clouds associated with low-pressure
area travel northward from the Bay of Bengal across the Ganges plains onto the
Himalayas and ‘burst’ in heavy downpours(75–100mm per hour).
• The states of Himachal Pradesh and Uttaranchal are the most affected due to the
steep topography.
Loss of life
Loss of property
Siltation and Flash floods
Cloudburst
sedimentation Landslide
Habitat destruction
Damages: Primary and secondary effects
Nature of damages
Cloudburst:
• The extent of damage depends heavily on the terrain that is
receiving the downpour.
• Severe localized flooding and waterlogging, isolation of low-
lying areas
• Disruptions in communication
• Localized power outages
• Transportation severely affected
Nature of damages
Cloudburst:
• High speed-winds can damage or lift off the roofs of buildings.
• Destabilization of soil, erosion and landslides
• alternating wind pressures can lead to deformation of the vertical structure
Nature of damages
Resultant flash floods:
• direct damage during a flood from inundation, high velocity flow, waves, erosion,
sedimentation and/or flood-borne debris
• degradation of building materials, either during the flood or sometime after the
flood
• contamination of the building due to flood-borne substances or mold.
• Service damaged: septic tanks, cesspools, pits, and leaching systems.
Pre-disaster preparedness: Prediction
• No satisfactory technique due to small scale.
• A very fine net work of radars can detect, prohibitively expensive.
– Requires high-resolution numerical models and mesoscale observations, high-
performance computers and Doppler weather radar.
– Both thunderstorms and cloudbursts had similar radar signatures making it
difficult to identify the cloudburst.
• 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.
• and requires
 Pre-disaster preparedness: Planning strategies
• Location: avoid areas of accelerated winds.
– Relocation of existing structures to less-prone areas
– Appropriate location of new structures

Zoning
– Availability of high ground within a community complex
– Placement of important functions on higher ground or upper floors
– Important services: communication, electricity, clean water supply protected as far as
possible from disruption
Pre-disaster preparedness: Planning strategies
 Hazard resistant design & Retrofitting
– Anchoring the roof – wind resistance
– Avoid roof materials that are light and susceptible to wind damage – metal sheets, light
trusses.
– Building openings should be protected with shutters or temporary covers of adequate
design.
– Critical facilities should build storm shutters into the design of the building.
– Limited use of large glass facades especially in the dominant wind directions.
– Strengthen the building envelope – bracing to prevent deformation
– Higher strength utility poles and additional guy wires installed.
– Boat shelters be developed to protect boat stock.
Pre-disaster preparedness: Planning strategies
FLASH FLOODS
• Watercourses passing through settlements areas should be properly configured and lined
with concrete.
• Existing bridges should be inspected to determine which ones are too low or which have
support pillars within the watercourse channel. Where possible these should be replaced as
these features restrict water flow and cause the channels to be easily blocked with debris.
• Future bridges should not be built with these undesirable features.
• Buildings constructed adjacent to watercourses should be elevated to prevent potential
flood inundation.
• Critical facilities should not be located adjacent to watercourses.
Pre-disaster preparedness: Planning strategies

LANDSLIDES
• Detailed slope analysis should be carried.
• Appropriate cut slope design for houses on
• Locations prone to recurrent slope failures
be examined with the view to stabilizing the
with structural support.

Detailed slope analysis

Recognize the areas prone to landslide

Thank you.