Extreme rainfall a result of global warming caused by carbon emissions: Dr Koll

In an exclusive interview with India Today, Dr Roxy Mathew Koll, one of India's leading climate scientists from the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology, discussed the severe weather events impacting the country. Addressing the shift from a severely dry June to torrential rains, he stated, 'We are going through a phase where we are having a monsoon with long dry spells... and then short spells of heavy rain.' He explained that while the extreme volume of rain is driven by global warming and amplified by El Niño, local devastation is human-made. 'The floods, landslides, and the destruction, the disaster that we see locally are a result of local changes that we made, land use changes, development without environmental and climate assessment,' he observed. Highlighting the vulnerability of the Western Ghats and the Himalayas, Dr. Koll warned that unchecked development compromises soil stability, leading to devastating flash floods and mudslides.