西比·阿拉苏 印度班加罗尔——一场在异常温暖的海洋上空增强的气旋正向印度一段海岸线逼近，那里聚集了数十亿美元的数据中心投资，凸显出在极端天气日益频繁的世界中基础设施所面临的威胁。
SIBI ARASU BENGALURU, India — A cyclone that powered up over unusually warm ocean waters is taking aim at a section of India’s coastline that’s dense with billions of dollars of investment in data centers , underscoring the threats to infrastructure in a world where extreme weather is becoming more frequent.
气旋“阿尔纳布”周三在印度东部呼啸登陆，带来强风和暴雨，据当局称造成3人死亡，约20万英亩农田被淹。电线杆被连根拔起，道路受阻。随着风暴风速减弱，强降雨成为内陆地区最大的威胁。
Cyclone Arnab roared ashore Wednesday in eastern India with powerful winds and heavy rain, killing three people and inundating roughly 200,000 acres of cropland, according to authorities. Electricity poles have been uprooted and roads blocked. Heavy rainfall emerged as the biggest threat to areas inland as the storm’s wind speeds weakened.
气象学家表示，孟加拉湾的异常高温帮助增强了“阿尔纳布”的威力。
Meteorologists said that unusually high temperatures across the Bay of Bengal helped fuel Arnab.
气候专家表示，气旋登陆的这段海岸线上正投入数十亿美元建设数据中心，凸显出极端天气既威胁现有生计，也威胁旨在推动未来增长的基础设施。完整的损失评估可能需要数天或数周才能完成。
Its arrival on a coastline where billions of dollars are being invested in data centers underscores how extreme weather threatens both existing livelihoods and the infrastructure intended to drive future growth, said climate experts. It will likely take days or weeks for full damage estimates to be calculated.
印度气象局前局长K.J.拉梅什表示，孟加拉湾海水异常高温、本已温暖的大气以及海面以下储存的热量共同助长了“阿尔纳布”的威力。
Unusually high temperatures across the Bay of Bengal, an already warm atmosphere and heat stored below the surface helped fuel Arnab, according to K.J. Ramesh, a former director general of the Indian Meteorological Department.
他说：“更温暖的大气也能容纳更多水分，增加强降雨的可能性。”
“A warmer atmosphere can also hold more moisture, increasing the potential for intense rainfall,” he said.
英国雷丁大学气象专家阿克沙伊·德奥拉斯表示，异常温暖的海水也帮助风暴迅速增强。他说，气旋是自然天气模式的一部分，但人为气候变化导致的变暖会加剧其降雨。
The unusually warm waters also helped the storm strengthen rapidly, according to Akshay Deoras, a weather expert at the University of Reading in the United Kingdom. He said cyclones are part of natural weather patterns but warming from human-caused climate change can amplify their rainfall.
这场风暴紧随印度自2015年以来最弱的西南季风之后。气象专家表示，强烈的厄尔尼诺现象与本就变暖的气候相叠加，导致6月至9月降雨稀少。印度多个邦的各县已宣布进入干旱状态，南部和东部地区降雨缺口尤为严重。
The storm follows India’s weakest southwest monsoon since 2015. A strong El Niño weather phenomenon combined with an already warming climate has resulted in sparse rainfall from June through September, according to weather experts. Districts across several Indian states have declared droughts and southern and eastern India suffered particularly large deficits.
降雨分布不均时，即便暴雨倾盆也难以令人安心。强降雨还可能从硬化、干燥的地面流走，而无法被土壤吸收。
Intense downpours offer little reassurance when rain falls unevenly. Heavy rainfall can also run off hardened, dry ground, rather than being absorbed.
过去的极端天气事件已给印度造成毁灭性损失。据总部位于新德里的科学与环境中心统计，仅2025年一年，印度就有360天遭遇极端天气，造成4421人死亡，1741万公顷（4321万英亩）农田受灾。德国观察组织的气候风险指数显示，印度是受气候影响最脆弱的十个国家之一，在1995年至2024年这30年间——即有最新数据可查的时期——损失达1700亿美元。
Past extreme weather events have already taken a devastating toll on India. In 2025 alone, the country experienced extreme weather on 360 days, with 4,421 people killed and 17.41 million hectares (43.21 million acres) of cropland affected, according to the New Delhi-based Centre for Science and Environment. India is among the top 10 most vulnerable countries to climate impacts and has suffered losses of $170 billion in the three decades from 1995 to 2024—the period for which the latest data is available—according to the think tank Germanwatch’s Climate Risk Index.
印度浦那火焰大学公共政策教授安贾尔·普拉卡什表示，热浪降低了工厂工人和户外工人的生产力，而洪水和气旋则中断了交通、电力和物流。他说，这些间接成本在早期评估中很容易被忽视，因为评估往往聚焦于受损的农作物、房屋和道路。
Heat waves reduce the productivity of factory and outdoor workers , while floods and cyclones interrupt transport, electricity and logistics, said Anjal Prakash, a public policy professor at Flame University in Pune, India. He said these indirect costs are easily overlooked in early assessments focused on damaged crops, homes and roads.
普拉卡什说：“家庭往往承受着最早、最沉重的损失——房屋受损、资产被毁、工资丧失。”他表示，许多农民、非正规劳动者和小企业缺乏保险或储蓄，使他们更难挽回损失。他说，政府随后面临的重建账单可能挤压对学校、医疗、交通和工业产能的投资。
“Households often bear the earliest and harshest losses through damaged homes, destroyed assets and lost wages,” said Prakash. He said many farmers, informal workers and small enterprises lack insurance or savings, making it harder for them to recover their losses. Governments then face reconstruction bills that can squeeze investment in schools, healthcare, transport and industrial capacity, he said.
区域代价同样巨大。根据一项由政府主导的评估，巴基斯坦2022年的洪灾造成超过1730人死亡，并导致超过300亿美元的损失和经济损失。更近一些，今年8月尼泊尔的洪灾估计造成了超过40亿美元的损失，以及数千人死亡。
The regional costs are also immense. Pakistan’s 2022 floods killed more than 1,730 people and caused over $30 billion in damage and economic losses, according to a government-led assessment. More recently, the Nepal floods in August this year are estimated to have caused over $4 billion in damages, along with thousands of deaths.
“最大的盲点是连锁性的中断，”普拉卡什说。他说，一条被淹的道路或一座受损的变电站，可能中断远超灾区范围的工厂、供应链和服务。
“The biggest blind spot is the cascading disruptions,” said Prakash. A flooded road or damaged substation can interrupt factories, supply chains and services far beyond the disaster zone, he said.
这些因素对印度的数据中心扩张计划至关重要。位于阿尔纳布强降雨路径上的维沙卡帕特南市，正是谷歌、阿达尼和Airtel计划投资150亿美元建设超大规模数据中心的地方。
Those factors matter for India’s data center expansion plans. The city of Visakhapatnam, in the path of Arnab’s heavy rains, is where Google, Adani and Airtel plan to invest $15 billion for a hyperscale data center.
气候风险分析公司XDI在2025年对228个印度数据中心进行的评估预测，在高排放情景下，到2050年将有超过十分之一的数据中心面临气候变化造成损害的高风险。分析还显示，结构性改造可以大幅降低损害风险。
A 2025 assessment by climate-risk analytics firm XDI of 228 Indian data centers projected that more than 1-in-10 would face high risks of damage from climate change by 2050 under a high-emissions scenario. The analysis also showed that structural adaptations could substantially reduce damage risks.
普拉卡什说，这些设施面临来自洪水、高温、电力不可靠和水资源短缺的相互叠加的威胁。基于历史天气的规划可能低估气候变化正在如何加剧极端天气。
Prakash said these facilities face overlapping threats from flooding, heat, unreliable electricity and water scarcity. Planning based on historical weather can underestimate how climate change is increasing extreme weather.
普拉卡什说，基础设施规划必须考虑未来的气候状况，包括加固电网、对道路和住房进行防洪改造以及改善农作物保险。企业还需要制定连续性计划，考虑多种故障同时发生的情况，例如气旋过后紧接着停电和交通中断。
Prakash said infrastructure planning must account for future climate conditions, including strengthening electricity grids, flood-proofing roads and housing and improving crop insurance. Businesses also need continuity plans that consider several failures occurring together, such as a cyclone followed by power cuts and transport disruption.
德奥拉斯说，大型天气系统的预报已经有所改善，但局部雷暴和山洪仍然难以预测，在防护方面留下了危险的缺口。
Deoras said forecasting had improved for large weather systems, but local thunderstorms and flash floods remained difficult to predict, leaving dangerous gaps in protection.
普拉卡什表示，印度及其南亚邻国应在下个月于土耳其举行的全球气候谈判中，争取可预测的、以赠款为基础的适应资金，并寻求更便捷地获取联合国损失与损害基金的渠道。他说：“气候资金必须在损失变得不可逆转之前送达一线社区。”
Prakash said India and its South Asian neighbors should seek predictable, grant-based adaptation finance and simpler access to United Nations loss and damage funding at the upcoming global climate talks in Turkey next month. “Climate finance must reach the frontline communities before losses become irreversible,” he said.
可在X平台通过@sibi123关注西比·阿拉苏。联系方式：sarasu@ap.org。
Sibi Arasu can be followed on X at @sibi123 . Reach him at sarasu@ap.org.