Cloudburst
Published on 26 Oct 2025
Two persons were killed, and over a dozen went missing after cloudbursts led to flash floods in several districts of Himachal Pradesh.
A cloudburst is a localised but intense rainfall activity.
Short spells of very heavy rainfall over a small geographical area can cause widespread destruction, especially in hilly regions where this phenomenon is the most common.
Rainfall of 10 cm or more in an hour over a roughly 10 km x 10-km area is classified as a cloudburst event.
During a cloudburst event, a place receives about 10% of this annual rainfall within an hour.
The India Meteorological Department forecasts rainfall events well in advance, but it does not predict the quantum of rainfallThe forecasts can be about light, heavy, or very heavy rainfall,
but weather scientists do not have the capability to predict exactly how
much rain is likely to fall at any given place.
