The most severe rainstorm of india—a brief appraisal

Abstract

The rainstorm of 1–5 July 1941 which caused exceptionally heavy rains overthe coastal belt of north Konkan-south Gujarat has been analysed. The centre of this rainstorm was at Dharampur (Surat district of Gujarat state) which recorded the highest one-dayrainfall of 987 mm on 2 July 1941. The areal rain depths obtained from this rainstorm for durations of one to three days over differentsized areas were found to exceed the highest areal rain depths obtained in India. A comparison of areal rain depths for this rainstorm with similar rain depths obtained from the most severe rainstorms of the USA and Australiashowed that, barring one or two small areas, the July 1941 rainstorm gave higher rain depths up to an area of 65 000 km2 fordurations of one to three days. The efficiency of this rainstorm was also determined and found to be the highest among the Indian and American rainstorms. Considering this, the July 1941 rainstorm may be considered as one of the world's most severe rainstorms. © 1984 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.