| Climate Change: 3,220 dead, 4.25 million hectares of crops damaged in 9 months | | | Early Times Report
Jammu, Nov 4: As many as 3220 people lost their lives during the last nine months in different parts of the country due to climate change, as the nation is witnessing extreme weather events.
According to the Climate India 2026 report released by the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), India was hit by almost one extreme weather event a day in the first nine months of 2026. These not-so-natural disasters killed 3,220 people and around 47,244 livestock; damaged 4.25 million hectare of cropped areas; destroyed public infrastructure worth crores of rupees; and decimated 128,334 houses, crippling the lives of the very poor and pushing them deeper into debt and penury.
“This is the human face of climate change, as documented in Climate ” said Sunita Narain, director general, CSE here today at a webinar organised to release this annual publication.
Climate India 2026 is a unique annual e-atlas and assessment of extreme weather in India, published by CSE and Down To Earth. This year’s edition also carried a comprehensive analysis of trends over the last five years – from 2022 to 2026.
India faced extreme weather events on 92 per cent of days in the first nine months of this year, marked by heat and cold waves, lightning and storms, heavy rain, floods and landslides. These events claimed 3,220 lives, affected at least 4.25 million hectare (mha) of crops, destroyed 128,334 houses, and killed 47,244 animals.
Among the states, Uttar Pradesh and Himachal Pradesh experienced extreme weather on almost 64 per cent of the 273 days in the first nine months of 2026 -- the most in the country. Uttar Pradesh recorded the highest fatalities at 811, followed by Maharashtra (286 deaths) and Bihar (245 deaths).
Maharashtra was the worst hit in terms of cropped area affected (2.83 mha), followed by Uttar Pradesh (0.69 mha) and Bihar (0.23 mha).
Regionally, northwest India experienced the highest frequency of extreme weather events in 2026, with 235 event days, followed by the east and northeast regions at 218 days.
The year 2026 also broke several climate records. February was India’s driest since 1901, and the fourth warmest in 125 years. In July, India recorded its third-highest mean temperature for the month, with the minimum temperature ranking the second highest on record. At the regional level, northwest India recorded its third warmest and driest February in 125 and its warmest nights, with the average minimum temperature 2.15°C above normal, the highest jump among all regions recorded this year. |
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