UP most vulnerable state for cold wave, 40% of Indian population vulnerable

Uttar Pradesh with its 75 districts is the most vulnerable state for cold waves, said a report by the IMD’s Climate Hazards and Vulnerability Atlas. While, 17 districts of Rajasthan, 14 of Bihar, and one each in Jharkhand and Punjab are ‘vulnerable’ to the same category of cold wave.

In entire India, 36 per cent of the districts and 40 per cent of the population are moderate to very highly vulnerable to cold waves. And 16 per cent of the districts and 24 per cent of the population are highly vulnerable to experience cold waves, revealed the study.

Meanwhile, when it comes to fog annually, of the districts and 7 per cent of the population are moderate to very highly vulnerable (2 per cent of the districts and population are highly vulnerable) for the fog annually, the report said.

In December, however, most of Delhi and a few districts of Uttar Pradesh are most vulnerable  to fog. While in January, along with Delhi and Uttar Pradesh, few districts in Haryana, West Bengal, Tripura and Manipur too experience foggy weather.

Also read: Severe cold, heavy rains and dense fog: Met issues warning

Predictably, the union territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh (19 districts) and Himachal Pradesh (8 districts) are most vulnerable for snowfall.

The report also added that all the districts of the entire western coast, have maximum frequency of heavy rainfall for more than 20 days during the southwest monsoon season. This is the districts of Assam and Meghalaya, Tripura, Kerala and few districts of Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Karnataka, Odisha, Maharashtra and Uttarakhand.

When it comes to floods, about 30 per cent of the districts and 41 per cent of the population are moderately or very highly vulnerable to floods. Annually 6 per cent of the districts and population are highly vulnerable.

Assam (23 districts are high to very high) is the most vulnerable state for floods.

The IMD report said that nearly 44 per cent of the districts and 46 per cent of the population are moderate to very highly vulnerable. The report stated that most of Odisha’s coastal districts,, southern coastal districts of Andhra Pradesh and northern coastal districts of Tamil Nadu, few districts of Bihar, Jharkhand, Rajasthan, Gujarat and NE states experience high extreme wind speed of greater than 55m/s (50 years return period extreme value).