India saw a disaster almost every day this year: CSE report

India recorded an extreme weather event on almost 90 per cent of the days in the first nine months of this year, according to a report of Centre for Science and Environment (CSE).

This means that "India has seen close to a disaster every day in the nine months of this year – from heat and cold waves, cyclones and lightning to heavy rains, floods and landslides," the report, Extreme Weather Report 2022', said.

These disasters have claimed 2,755 lives, affected 1.8 million hectare of crop area, destroyed over 416,667 houses and killed close to 70,000 livestock.


With an event every second day, Madhya Pradesh saw the highest number of days with extreme weather events, but Himachal Pradesh saw the highest number of human fatalities -- 359 deaths. Madhya Pradesh and Assam witnessed 301 human deaths each. Assam reported the highest number of damaged houses and animal deaths.

"In 2022, India recorded its seventh wettest January since 1901. This March was also the warmest ever and the third driest in 121 years. It was also the country’s third warmest April, 11th warmest August and 8th warmest September since 1901," the report added.

Karnataka, which experienced an extreme weather event on 82 days, accounted for more than 50 per cent of the crop area affected in the country. Madhya Pradesh, as per official records, did not report any crop area damage. Sengupta says this could be due to “gaps in loss and damage reporting”.

This estimation of loss and damage is probably an underestimate as data for each event is not collated, nor are the losses of public property or crop loss calculated, the green think tank said.

Delhi reported four days of extreme weather events with lightning and storms, and three human deaths due to them. The national capital also logged two days with heavy rain, 28 heatwave days and seven coldwave days.

The central region reported the highest number of days with extreme weather events at 198, followed by the northwest at 195.

In terms of human lives lost, the central region saw the highest number of deaths at 887, followed by the east and northeast region (783 deaths).

In 2022, India recorded its seventh wettest January since 1901. This March was the warmest ever and the third driest in 121 years. It was also the country's third warmest April, eleventh warmest August and eighth warmest September since 1901.

Eastern and northeastern India saw their warmest and driest July in 121 years. The region also recorded its second warmest August and fourth warmest September in 2022.