Flood UPSC | Floods and droughts | Geography of India| UPSC | UP-PCS | State PCS

Table of Contents:

• What is a flood?
• Cause of flood in India
• Flood-affected areas
• Impact of Flood
• Way to tackle flood

A flood is an overflow of water that submerges the areas that cause the loss of life and economy. A flood can be from a river flood, a dam burst, cyclonic flood, ocean storms, etc. In India, a flood is mainly caused by monsoon bursts in low-lying areas. 

Flood in urban cities because of poor planning as per a UN report poor planning in Urban areas causes a 3 % GDP loss every year
The following are the reasons for the flood:

• Climate Change:
• Uncertainty in Monsoon: 
• Heavy rainfall in a very short duration of time causes floods in low-lying areas.
• Cyclonic rainfall also causes the flood
• Encroachment of flood room areas
• Unplanned and unscientific mining in hilly areas causes the silting of drainage channel bed causing a reduction in the depth of the river bed and as a result overflow of the river cause flood in surrounding areas.
• Unplanned construction in Urban areas such as colonies, transportation infrastructure, concretization utilization of areas, and improper solid waste management in urban areas leads to choking of natural and human-made drainage channels that lead to floods. 
• Deforestation leads to soil erosion and a reduction in flood areas causes the flood.
• Mismanagement of Dam water; Dam managers wait to fill the dam then they release water. Heavy rain and dam discharge at the same time cause the flood.

Impact of the flood:
Flood is one of the major hazards in India affecting a major part of the population both economically and psychologically.
The impact of the flood is multidimensional:

• It badly harmed the tourism sector
• Loss of lives and cattle
• Damage of Infrastructure
• Create Psychological stress or trauma among vulnerable groups such as children, Women, etc.
• Waste management and cleanliness challenge
• The outbreak of some communicable diseases such as Dengue, Malaria, Cholera, etc.
• Cascading effects like Infection and absence of care for pregnant women and old people.

 

Way to flood management

Climate-resilient water management is a good way to manage floods.;

• Need best available information for decision making such as Flood hazard mapping
• Reliable Weather forecasting
• Robust management of catchment water
• Safety dam code
• Buffer areas for rivers
• New intermediary storage

The government of India generally focuses on the compensation part not the prevention of floods.

Try to solve the following questions:

• Account for the growing frequency and intensity of floods in India and suggest short-and long-term remedial measures indicating the chronically flood-prone areas. ( UPSC 2015, 250 words, 20 marks)

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•  Flood Management
• Linkage of rivers 
• Floods as Natural Disaster
• Watershed management
• Drought-prone area development
• Dought as a natural disaster
• Drought Crisis
• Mention the preventive and curative measures to contain problems of flood-prone and drought-prone areas of Bihar (( 63rd BPSC, 2019) )
• Write short notes on Drought-prone areas of India.
• भारत के सूखा-ग्रस्त क्षेत्रों पर संक्षिप्त टिप्पणी लिखिए। 
• बिहार के बाढ़ प्रभावित और सूखा प्रभावित क्षेत्रो की समश्याओ को काबू में रखने के लिए गतिरोधतात्मक और निदानात्मक उपायों का उल्लेख कीजिये।
• सूखा एक प्राकृतिक आपदा 

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