KCR Suspects Cloudburst Conspiracy Behind Godavari Floods

Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao said that a few foreign countries had been attempting triggering cloudbursts in India for some time, and expressed suspicion that a cloudburst was one of the reasons for the unprecedented Godavari river floods in Telangana last week.

Speaking to the media on Sunday after inspecting the flood-hit areas in and around Bhadrachalam town, the CM said that some foreign forces were deliberately indulging in the practice of triggering cloudbursts in India, and had successfully done that in Ladakh and Leh in Jammu and Kashmir and in Uttarakhand, resulting in the unprecedented floods and heavy loss of human lives.

"Cloudburst, a new process, can be noticed now. Some are saying that there are a few conspiracies involved. I don't know how much truth there is to it. A few people from other countries are triggering cloudbursts in India. In the past they (people from other countries) have triggered cloudbursts in Leh, Ladakh and Uttarakhand. And now we have information that they are doing the same in the vicinity of the Godavari river," the Chief Minister claimed.

The Cambridge dictionary defines a cloudburst as a sudden heavy downpour of rain. According to the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD), if 10 cm rainfall is received at a station in one hour, the rain event is termed as a cloudburst. It is very difficult to predict cloudbursts due to their very small prints in space and time.