New Delhi, Aug. 6 -- Horrifying videos of multiple buildings, habitations, market areas being washed away in Uttarakhand's Dharali, in the Bhagirathi Ecosensitive Zone has once again captured the impact of climate change in the upper reaches of the Western Himalayas. But, experts have warned that the impact has been particularly devastating because of the number of constructions on what appears to be the riverbed of Khir Ganga, a tributary of Bhagirathi. Though locals have said massive amounts of rainfall was recorded in the upper reaches of Khir Ganga, IMD officials said there was no way to confirm if it is in fact a "cloud burst." An area is considered to be hit by cloud burst after more than 10cm of rain is received in one hour. It is a very localised phenomenon. "There has been extremely heavy rainfall of over 30 cm 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 in fact a cloud burst. But we know that there was extremely heavy rain," said M Mohapatra, director general, IMD. "Since 2018 we are seeing a major escalation in extreme weather events and associated disasters. Even before the Kedarnath disaster in 2013, there were two major cloudbursts in Assi Ganga and Ukhimath. But after 2018 we saw a huge spike in landslides in all the valleys. In 2021 there was the Rishi Ganga disaster in which 200 workers were killed in the tunnel after the glacier fell apart. Then there was the Joshimath land sinking, the Silkayara tunnel and major rain disaster in Yamuna valley this monsoon. We are 100% sure that cloudburst frequency has gone up. The impact of cloudburst is also much more devastating now because of the amount of debris involved. This is causing extensive damage every time,"said Mallika Bhanot, environmentalist and member of Ganga Ahvaan, a civil society collective....