Only 75mm rainfall in three hours, no cloudburst at Amarnath shrine site: MeT
As per the criteria of the Indian Meteorological Department, a 100mm or more rainfall per hour is termed a cloudburst.
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“Cloudburst, if any, might have occurred at an altitude higher than that of the cave shrine,’’ said Director, J&K Meteorological Centre, Srinagar. (PTI, file)The area around the Amarnath cave shrine where 17 pilgrims died in the flash floods on July 8 had received only 75mm of rainfall between 4.30pm till 7.30pm that day, which was far less than what is required to be categorised it as a cloud burst, according to the data from the on-site weather station set up by the meteorological department. As per the criteria of the Indian Meteorological Department, a 100mm or more rainfall per hour is termed a cloudburst.
“We have an automatic weather station below the Amarnath cave shrine, which recorded 31 mm rainfall between 4.30pm and 5.30pm, 25mm from 5.30pm to 6.30pm, and 19mm from 6.30pm to 7.30pm,’’ an MeT official told The Indian Express.
“Cloudburst, if any, might have occurred at an altitude higher than that of the cave shrine,’’ said Director, J&K Meteorological Centre, Srinagar, quoting eyewitnesses that the most of the water had come from area above the shrine.
However, some of the survivors said that Shri Amarnath Shrine Board (SASB) authorities were caught unaware as they didn’t expect such an eventuality.
Lalit Khajuria, who was one of the four local journalists at the mishap site, said, “The shrine board should have stopped pilgrims at Panchtarni in view of the advance weather forecast. However, they continued allowing people move towards the cave…over 10,000 people had gathered in the shrine area by 5.40pm”.
“As we were climbing the stairs leading to the holy cave, a gush of water, along with boulders, made its way from one side of the cave and it washed away tents that came its way,’’ he said, adding that there was complete chaos as people could not understand where to run for safety. After sometime announcements were made through public address system, asking pilgrims to move towards the helipad but pilgrims didn’t know where it was and there was nobody to guide them.
Another pilgrim, Rohit Sharma who, too, had gone to the shrine with his friends, reached Panchtarni around 12.30 am. “We were charged Rs 3,800 for the night stay at a camp against Rs 450 per head fixed by the Shrine Board,” he said.
Both questioned the Shrine Board’s claim of having rescued 15,000 pilgrims, saying that the pilgrims had reached the Pahalgam and Baltal base camps on their own.
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