Assessment of an Extreme Heavy Rainfall over Meghalaya, India on 16th& 17th June 2022: A case study using Meteorological and Remote Sensing observations

The investigation of extreme weather phenomena is an important scientific field that incorporates multiple disciplines due to their significant impacts on various sectors and society as a whole. There is evidence to support the occurrence of severe weather events in different regions of the world. In India, major precipitation events, such as the Mumbai floods in 2005 and the Kerala floods in 2018, often occur during the south-west monsoon season, leading to significant impacts. This statement is also applicable to states like Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, and Manipur in the northeast region. Intense precipitation events caused significant impacts in Meghalaya from June 16th to June 18th, 2022.These events resulted in a significant socio-economic and human impact, including infrastructure damage, displacement of communities, and around 90 reported fatalities in Assam and Meghalaya. These two states are susceptible to flooding and erosion, and they consistently face intense and periodic floods on an annual basis. Analysis of the 2022 rainfall data reveals that over 4.8 million individuals were adversely impacted in the majority of districts in Assam and Meghalaya. Specifically, 79 % of the total 43 districts were affected.

This study analyzed the meteorological aspects of exceptional heavy rainfall events in Meghalaya from June 16th to 18th, 2022, to understand their significant impact on the environment and society. The extreme weather event in Meghalaya was a result of a well-marked low pressure area, a significant influx of moisture from the Bay of Bengal (BoB), favourable dynamics and thermodynamics conditions, and a supportive cloud top temperature (CTT) that collectively intensified the heavy rainfall. The study's findings can provide valuable insights for disaster managers and forecasters, enabling them to better prepare for and respond to extreme rainfall events in the northeast region of the country.