Essays

Floods comprise of another natural disaster in India which occurs year after year owing to excessive rains caused by the south-west monsoon which is the sole provider of maximum rains to India. Besides heavy rains, many a times, tropical cyclones occurring during pre and post monsoon time also cause severe damage. Sometimes silting of river beds, deforestation or change in the course of rivers too cause floods or flood-like situation. In 1979, a man-made flood occurred in Gujarat when Machhu dam bursted causing great destruction.

The vast diversity of India, too geographically causes extreme situations many times. One part of the country suffers from severe famines or draughts while the other part gets destroyed due to floods and over-flow of rivers Approximately, one eighth of the total land area of the nation is considered as flood-prone area. In 2011, floods and landslides triggered by heavy monsoon rains, led to the death of four people in Assam and around 200,000 had been displaced after more than 200 villages were submerged in the northeast India. Thousands of hectares of paddy crops were damaged. Floods destroy not only the annual crops and livestocks but also homes, roads, railways and communication channels of every kind.

In 2010, floods in Haryana and Punjab, due to breaches in the Ghaggar and Tangri rivers and in the Satluj-Yamuna-Link canal, have claimed 15 lives, and left hundreds of acres of land inundated. In the same year, torrential rains lashed the impoverished and densely populated state of Bihar, causing the Gandak river to overflow and sweep away hundreds of homes and destroy 30,000 hectares of rice, maize and sugarcane. In the neighboring Uttar Pradesh, at least 50,000 hectares were under water, mainly the sugar can-growing western region.

Floods in India kill 1,793 people each year, on an average, and cause loss of $575 million each year, including damaging crops in 3.7 million hectares.

Maximum harm done by floods is in the plains of India i.e., Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal and Assam. Flood situations here are easily made because of long spells of heavy rains in waterlogged and poorly drained areas. Rivers like Sutlej, Beas, Ghaggar etc overflow during the rainy season and wreck havoc and destruction in huge areas. Total flood prone area in India is 40 million hectares. Hence, one can estimate the kind of mass destruction that occurs during the monsoon by these rivers. To add to this are the tributaries of the Ganga and the Yamuna joining them which again bring huge quantities of water and flood in these areas. For instance, the Chambal and the Betwa meet the Yamuna abating its flooding capacity dangerously. In West Bengal, the delta formed by the Ganga, the paths of the Tista and Torsa rivers often overflow. Damodar valley is usually flooded, the river is notoriously famous as The Sorrow of Bengal', In Assam, the Brahmaputra gets flooded practically every year because of the huge silt deposits which hinder its capacity to flow easily hence flooding its banks completely. Thus, landslides too become frequent in these areas.

Down in the peninsular region, there are occasional floods in the deltas of the Mahanadi. Krishna, Kavery and Godavari due to large scale silt deposits during the Monsoon season. Moreover, thoughtless cutting down of trees in these areas has led to increase in the flood intensity. The Narmada and Tapi too get flooded in many places occasionally- Up again in the north-western part of the country, in Jammu and Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh, the basins of Sutlej, Beas, Ravi and Chenab are mostly flooded. But it is to be noticed that the northern part of the country is more flood prone as compared to the southern part and the floods there, are even less destructive.

In 1954, the Government formulated a National Flood Management Programme which included immediate, short-term and long term plans. The immediate goal was to intensively collect data within 2 years of time and execute emergency measures accordingly. The short-term goals were concerned with construction of spurs and embankments. Long-term flood prevention measures concentrated upon storages and reservoirs being built upon rivers and their tributaries. A great degree of protection can be given to flood-prone areas by implementing these structural measures. Owing to this programme, Bhakra Dam on Sutler Hirakund Dam on Mahanadi, Tungbhadra on Krishna, Ukai Dam on Tapi. Konar and others on Damodar have been built.

By adopting various measures such as inter-linking of rivers etc, the damaging effects of floods can be reduced and the excess water instead of being wasted can be used for constructive purposes.