Climate change is raising India's storm risk mainly through heavier rain, warmer seas, rising sea level and stronger storms in some basins, not through more cy…
After the 1864 Calcutta cyclone and monsoon failures, IMD was set up in 1875. Its nationwide temperature record starts in 1901, the baseline for every ranking today.
A super cyclone with winds near 260 km/h and a surge several metres high killed about 10,000 people. Odisha then built India's first state disaster authority.
Santacruz recorded 944 mm in 24 hours. More than 1,000 people died across Maharashtra, and the Disaster Management Act followed that December.
A storm comparable to 1999 hit Puri. About 1.2 million people were evacuated and Odisha recorded 64 deaths, down from about 10,000 in 1999.
Arabian Sea cyclonic storms rose 52% and very severe cyclones 150% in 2001-2019 versus 1982-2000, while Bay of Bengal storms fell 8%.
Amphan became the Bay of Bengal's first super cyclonic storm since 1999 and the costliest cyclone on record in the North Indian Ocean.
A glacial lake in Sikkim burst and sent a flood down the Teesta that breached the Chungthang dam. The Himalayas are a second front.
2024 was India's warmest year since 1901, 0.65 C above the 1991-2020 average. Ten of the 15 warmest years came in 2011-2025.
Floods, landslides and lightning, not cyclones. IMD counted about 2,760 deaths; rain was 110% of normal but badly uneven between regions.
No cyclonic storm had formed by late September, yet a deep depression brought deadly rain to Odisha, Andhra and Uttar Pradesh.
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