New Delhi, Aug. 7 -- The series of suspected cloudbursts that hit three locations near Harsil, a village between Uttarkashi and Gagotri in Uttarakhand, was triggered by the monsoon trough being more north than it usually is at this time of the year, and accentuated by a cyclonic system over Bihar. according to experts. According to Uttarkashi district administration, at least 15 people are missing and 80-90 buildings have been damaged as a result of the extreme weather events, likely caused by the climate crisis, and exacerbated by untrammelled construction in the region, including in river beds and on fragile slopes. A status note on Tuesday evening by the Central Water Commission said a series of extreme weather events in the form of suspected cloudbursts occurred in quick succession on Tuesday in the Uttarkashi district, causing widespread damage and potential casualties. The first incident took place in Dharali, near Harsil, around 1:00 pm. The second incident occurred between Harsil and Gangnani (near Sukki Top), around 3:00 pm. And the third incident occurred near Army Camp, Harsil, around 3:30 pm Horrifying videos of multiple buildings, habitations, market areas being washed away in the Bhagirathi Ecosensitive Zone, has once again captured the impact of climate change in the upper reaches of the Western Himalayas. But the experts also said that the impact has been particularly devastating because of the number of constructions on the riverbed of Kheer Ganga, a tributary of Bhagirathi. India Meteorological Department officials said there was no way to confirm if the extreme weather events were "cloudbursts". "There has been extremely heavy rainfall, over 300 mm in parts of Uttarakhand in the past 24 hours. As you can see from the video, extremely heavy rain may have occurred in very high reaches. We have no way to monitor if it was a cloudburst as there are no stations in very high altitude areas. But we know that there was extremely heavy rain," said M Mohapatra, director general, IMD. The frequency of such events has been increasing. There has been a rise in short span high intensity rain occurrences along the west coast of India and along the foothills of Western Himalayas between 1969 and 2015 according to a report by the union ministry of earth sciences published in 2020....