New Delhi: More than 3,000 people dead; around 128,334 houses destroyed and 4.25 million hectares of crops damaged in the first nine months of 2026; India also recorded the loss of 47,244 livestock so far this year – all due to extreme weather events.The country has experienced extreme weather events on 92% of days in the first nine months of this year. Events such as heatwaves, cold waves, landslides, floods and heavy rainfall claimed 3,220 lives, devastating livelihoods across the country and exposing the growing human cost of India’s climate crisis, according to a new report released by Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), a public interest research organisation based in New Delhi and Down To Earth (DTE) on November 4.The report, Climate India 2026: An Assessment of Extreme Weather Events, also tracked trends between 2022 and 2026, finding that the share of days affected by extreme weather rose from 86-88% in 2022 and 2023 to 93% in 2024 and peaked at 99% in 2025.These latest figures underline the growing human cost of India’s climate crisis. Between January and September of this year, the country experienced extreme weather on 251 of 273 days, meaning at least one part of India was affected on nearly 92% of days.Over 16,000 deaths in five yearsIndia has lost over 16,000 lives to extreme weather events between January 2022 and September 2026, with nearly 65% of the fatalities occurring in the last three years, according to the CSE report. The report finds that extreme weather has become an almost daily occurrence in the country. Between 2022 and 2026, India experienced extreme weather events on 86-99% of days during the January-September period each year.The annual death toll has remained above 2,700 throughout the assessment period, rising from 2,755 in 2022 to 2,923 in 2023 and 3,238 in 2024. Fatalities peaked at 4,064 in 2025, the highest in the five-year period. In 2026, extreme weather has already claimed 3,320 lives between January and September.According to a report by DTE, the disasters included lightning and thunderstorms, heavy rainfall, floods, landslides, heatwaves, cold waves, cyclones, hailstorms, dust storms and squalls (a sudden, brief spell of very strong winds, often accompanied by heavy rain or thunderstorms). The assessment draws on data from the India Meteorological Department (IMD), the Disaster Management Division of the Union Ministry of Home Affairs and media reports.India’s farmers pay the price for climate changeThis damage extends well beyond the loss of human lives. During the five-year period, extreme weather affected at least 20.6 million hectares of cropped land, with more than 82% of the damage occurring between 2024 and 2026. Agricultural losses have increased sharply. The affected cropped area rose from 1.84 million hectares in 2022 to 3.2 million hectares in 2024, before surging to 9.47 million hectares in 2025. Another 4.25 million hectares were affected in 2026, making it the second-worst year for agricultural damage in the assessment period.The report also points to changing weather patterns, with winters becoming warmer and heatwaves arriving earlier. February 2026 was the fourth-warmest February in 125 years and recorded no cold-wave or cold-day events for the first time in the five-year assessment period. Himachal Pradesh experienced a severe heatwave in early March, the earliest such occurrence recorded during the assessment.The impact has been widespread. Madhya Pradesh recorded the highest number of extreme weather days over the five years, at 748, followed by Himachal Pradesh (740), Uttar Pradesh (653), Maharashtra (648) and Assam (526).This year, Uttar Pradesh recorded the highest number of deaths at 811, followed by Maharashtra with 286 and Bihar with 245.Maharashtra recorded the largest area of crop land damage, with 2.83 million hectares affected. The state’s agrarian crisis is further compounded by recurring droughts, mounting farm losses and farmer suicides. In a grim reminder of the human toll, at least 10 farmers died by suicide in Maharashtra in the last six days, according to this report by The Wire.India needs to prepare for an era of extreme climateCSE director general Sunita Narain described the mounting losses as the human face of climate change, warning that almost every part of the country was experiencing extreme weather.In a statement, Narain also highlighted the wider climate injustice underlying the crisis. Wealthier countries, which have contributed disproportionately to historical emissions, have failed to cut pollution fast enough or provide adequate climate finance to vulnerable developing countries.Down To Earth managing editor Richard Mahapatra stressed the need to move beyond responding to disasters and focus on reducing risks and building resilience. He called for better drainage systems, water-recharge infrastructure and the restoration of forests and green spaces, DTE reported. With more than 16,000 deaths recorded in just five years, the findings point to a crisis that can no longer be treated as a series of isolated natural disasters. The growing frequency of extreme weather is threatening lives, livelihoods and food security, making preparedness, climate adaptation and disaster-risk reduction increasingly urgent.