Open Access Open Access  Restricted Access Subscription Access

On the Recent Floods in India


Affiliations
1 India Meteorological Department, New Delhi 110 003, India
2 CSIR-National Geophysical Research Institute, Hyderabad 500 007, India
3 Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology, Dehradun 248 001, India
4 School of Environmental Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi 110 067, India
5 National Disaster Management Agency, New Delhi 110 029, India
 

Floods in the Indian subcontinent have affected habitat, population, economy, etc. Due to the detrimental effects of recent floods on the economy, governance, etc., it is imperative to understand the associated dynamics, manifestations and fallouts for proper policy planning recommendations. The present study endeavours to provide an integrated rationale of meteorological and geomorphological aspects associated with four recent extreme floods in Uttarakhand (2013), Srinagar (2014), Chennai (2015) and Gujarat (2017). It is important to mention here that these floods occurred under different atmospheric circulations and geomorphological setting, and had an entirely different gambit for policy planning and governance. Consolidation of these issues will help policy planners and technologists, in case advance warning system based on these findings can be developed.

Keywords

Advance Warning System, Disaster Management, Floods, Governance, Policy Planning.
User
Notifications
Font Size

  • Berz, G. et al., World map of natural hazards – a global view of the distribution and intensity of significant exposures. Nat. Hazards, 2001, 23, 443–465; doi:10.1023/A:1011193724026.
  • Valdiya, K. S., Geology, Environment and Society, University Press, Hyderabad, 2004, p. 229.
  • Korup, O. and Clague, J. J., Natural hazards, extreme events, and mountain topography. Quaternary Sci. Rev., 2009, 28(11), 977–990.
  • Goswami, B. N., Venugopal, V. and Sengupta, D., Increasing trend of extreme rain events over India in a warming environment. Science, 2006, 314, 1442–1445.
  • Rao, S. R., Dhakate, A. R., Saha, S. K., Mahapatra, S., Chaudhari, H. S., Pokhrel, S. and Sahu, S. K., Why is Indian Ocean warming consistently. Climate Change, 2012, 110, 709–719.
  • Roxy, M. K., Ritika, K., Terray, P., Murtugudde, R., Ashok, K. and Goswami, B. N., Drying of Indian subcontinent by rapid Indian Ocean warming and a weakening land–sea thermal gradient. Nature Commun., 2015, 6(7423), 1–10.
  • Gupta, A. K. and Nair, S. S., Urban floods in Bangalore and Chennai: risk management challenges and lessons for sustainable urban ecology. Curr. Sci., 2011, 100, 1638–1645.
  • Pai, D. S., Sridhar, L., Rajeevan, M., Sreejith, O. P., Satbhai, N. S. and Mukhopadhyay, B., Development of a new high spatial resolution (0.25° × 0.25°) long period (1901–2010) daily gridded rainfall data set over India and its comparison with existing data sets over the region. MAUSAM, 2014, 65(1), 1–18.
  • Dhar, O. N. and Nandargi, S., Hydrometeorological aspects of floods in India. Nat. Hazards, 2003, 28, 1–33.
  • Sikka, D. R., Ray, K., Chakravarthy, K., Bhan, S. C. and Tyagi, A., Heavy rainfall in the Kedarnath valley of Uttarakhand during the advancing monsoon phase in June 2013. Curr. Sci., 2015, 109(2), 2353–2361.
  • Chevuturi, A. and Dimri, A. P., Investigation of Uttarakhand (India) disaster – 2013 using weather research and forecasting model. Nat. Hazards, 2016, 82(3), 1703–1726.
  • Pattanaik, D. R. and Rajeevan, M., Variability of extreme rainfall events over India during southwest monsoon season. Meteorol. Appl., 2010, 17(1), 88–104.
  • Niyas, N. T., Srivastava, A. K. and Hatwar, H. R., Variability and trend in the cyclonic storms over north Indian Ocean. Meteorological Monograph No. 3 Cyclone Warning-3/2009, 2009.
  • Karuna, S. S., Rajeevan, M. and Rao, S. V. B., On increasing monsoon rainstorms over India. Nature Hazards, 2016, doi:10.1007/s11069-016-2662-9.
  • Sen Roy, S. and Balling Jr, R. C., Trends in extreme daily precipitation indices in India. J. Climate, 2004, 24(4), 457–466.
  • Rakhecha, P. R. and Soman, M. K., Trends in the annual extreme rainfall events of 1 to 3 days duration over India. Theoret. Appl. Climatol., 1994, 48(4), 227–237.
  • Ramaswamy, C., Meteorological aspects of severe floods in India 1923–1979. Meteorological Monograph Hydrology No. 10/1987, India Meteorological Department (IMD), New Delhi, 1987.
  • Dhar, O. N. and Nandargi, S. S., The zones of severe rainstorm activity over India. Int. J. Climatol., 1993, 13(3), 301–305.
  • De, U. S., Singh, G. P. and Rase, D. M., Urban flooding in recent decades in four mega cities of India. J. Indian Geophys. Union, 2013, 17(2), 153–165.
  • Jenamani, R. K., Bhan, S. C. and Kalsi, S. R., Observational/ forecasting aspects of the meteorological event that caused a record highest rainfall in Mumbai. Curr. Sci., 2006, 90, 1344– 1362.
  • Lal, B., Jayanthi, N., Thakur Prasad, Rajeevan, M., Sunitha Devi, Srivastava, A. K. and Pai, D. S., Monsoon 2005, A Report, National Climate Centre, Indian Meteorological Department, Pune, 2006, pp. 42–57.
  • Shyamala, B. and Bhadram, C. V. V., Impact of mesoscale– synoptic scale interactions on the Mumbai historical rain event during 26–27 July 2005. Curr. Sci., 2006, 12, 1649–1654.
  • Vaidya, S. S. and Kulkarni, D. R., Simulation of heavy precipitation over Santacruz Mumbai on 26 July 2005 using Mesoscale model. Meteorol. Atmos. Phys., 2007, 98, 55–56.
  • Mohapatra, M., Kumar, N. and Bandyopadhyay, B. K., Role of mesoscale low and urbanization on exceptionally heavy rainfall event of 26 July 2005 over Mumbai: some observational evidences. MAUSAM, 2009, 60(3), 317–324.
  • Rao, Y. P., Southwest Monsoon, Meteorological Monograph. Synoptic Meteorology IMD, Pune, 1976, p. 367.
  • Mooley, D. A., The role of western disturbances in the production of weather over India during different seasons. Indian J. Metero. Geophys., 1957, 8, 253–260.
  • Dimri, A. P., Niyogi, D., Barros, A. P., Ridley, J., Mohanty, U. C., Yasunari, T. and Sikka, D. R., Western disturbance: a review. Rev. Geophys., 2015, 53(2), 225–246; http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/2014RG000460.
  • Sikka, D. R., Synoptic and mesoscale weather disturbances over south Asia during the southwest summer monsoon season. In The Global Monsoon System: Research Forecast (Chang, C. P. et al.), World Scientific, New Jersey, USA, 2011, 2nd edn, pp. 183–204.
  • Yadav, B. P., Khole, M. and Kumar, N., Unusual weather over northwest and west India during, November 2010. MAUSAM, 2013, 64(4), 699–710.
  • Dobhal, D. P., Gupta, A. K., Mehta, M. and Khandelwal, D. D., Kedarnath disaster: facts and plausible causes. Curr. Sci., 2013, 105(2), 171–174.
  • Dimri, A. P. et al., Cloudburst in Indian Himalayas: a review. Earth-Sci. Rev., 2017, 168, 1–23.
  • Houze Jr, R. A., Rasmussen, K. L., Medina, S., Brodzik, S. R. and Romatschke, U., Anomalous atmospheric events leading to the summer 2010 floods in Pakistan. Bull. Am. Meteorol. Soc., 2011, 92, 291–298; doi:10.1175/2010BAMS3173.1.
  • Medina, S., Houze Jr, R. A., Kumar, A. and Niyogi, D., Summer monsoon convection in the Himalayan region: terrain and land cover effects. Q. J. R. Meteorol. Soc., 2010, 136(648), 593–616.
  • Ananthakrishnan, R. and Bhatia, K. L., Tracks of monsoon depressions and their recurvature towards Kashmir. Monsoon of the World. India Meteorological Department, New Delhi, 1960, pp. 157–172.
  • Ghosh, S. K. and Veeraraghavan, K., Severe floods in Jammu and Kashmir in August 1973. Indian J. Meterol. Hydrol. Geophys., 1975, 26(2), 203–207.
  • Ray, K., Bhan, S. C. and Bandopadhyay, B. K., The catastrophe over Jammu and Kashmir in September 2014: a meteorological observational analysis. Curr. Sci., 2015, 109(3), 580–591.
  • Das, P. K., The Monsoon, National Book Trust of India, New Delhi, 1995, pp. 143–160.
  • Sengupta, S., Localised floods in Rajasthan owing to exceedingly heavy rains: case study of small scale accentuations in the Indian summer monsoon fields associated with intense upper anticyclonic shear zones. MAUSAM, 1986, 37(3), 385–390.
  • Ray, K., Mohanty, M. and Chincholikar, J. R., Climate variability over Gujarat, India. In ISPRS Archives XXXVIII-8/W3, Workshop Proceedings: Impact of Climate Change on Agriculture, Space Applications Centre (ISRO), Ahmedabad, 2009, pp. 38–43.
  • Mohanty, M., Ray, K. and Chakravarthy, K., Analysis of increasing heavy rainfall activity over western India, particularly Gujarat State in the past decade. In High-Impact Weather Events over the SAARC Region (eds Ray et al.), Springer, Cham, 2015; doi:10.1007/978-3-319-10217-7_17.
  • Rajeevan, M., Unnikrishnan, C. K., Bhate, J., Kumar, N. and Sreekala, P. P., Northeast monsoon over India: variability and prediction. Meteorol. Appl., 2012, 19, 226–236.
  • Krishnamurti, T. N., Jha, B., Rasch, P. J. and Ramanathan, V., High resolution global reanalysis highlighting the winter monsoon – Part I: reanalysis field. Meteorol. Atmos. Phys., 1997, 64, 123–150.
  • Krishnamurti, T. N., Jha, B., Rasch, P. J. and Ramanathan, V., High resolution global reanalysis highlighting the winter monsoon – Part II: transients and passive tracer transport. Meteorol. Atmos. Phys., 1997, 64, 151–171.
  • Krishnamurti, T. N., Tewari, N., Rajendran, K. and Gadgil, S., A heavy winter monsoon rainfall episode influenced by easterly waves, a westerly trough, blocking and the ITCZ. Weather, 2002, 57, 367–370.
  • Kripalani, R. H. and Kumar, P., Northeast monsoon rainfall variability over south peninsular India vis-à-vis Indian Ocean dipole mode. Int. J. Climatol., 2004, 24, 1267–1282.
  • Kamalji, R., Kannan, B. A. M., Stella, S., Sen, B., Sharma, P. and Thampi, S. B., Heavy rains over Chennai and surrounding areas as captured by Doppler weather radar during Northeast Monsoon 2015: a case study. In Remote Sensing of the Atmosphere, Clouds and Precipitation VI, International Society for Optics and Photonics, 2016, vol. 9876, p. 98762G; http://dx.doi.org/10.1117/12.2239563.
  • Valdiya, K. S., Damming rivers in the tectonically resurgent Uttarakhand Himalaya. Curr. Sci., 2014, 106(12), 1658– 1668.
  • Rana, N., Singh, S., Sundriyal, Y. P. and Juyal, N., Recent and past floods in the Alaknanda valley: causes and consequences. Curr. Sci., 2013, 105(9), 1209–1212.
  • Jones, E. J., Notes on the Kashmir earthquake of 30 May 1885. Rec. Geol. Surv. India, 1885, 18, 153–156.
  • Bilham, R. and Bali, B S., A ninth century earthquake-induced landslide and flood in the Kashmir Valley, and earthquake damage to Kashmir’s medieval temples. Bull. Earthq. Eng., 2013, 11, 1–31.
  • Bhatt, C. M. et al., Satellite-based assessment of the catastrophic Jhelum floods of September 2014, Jammu and Kashmir, India. Geomat. Nat. Haz. Risk, 2016; doi:10.1080/19475705.2016.1218943.
  • Farooq, M. and Muslim, M., Dynamics and forecasting of population growth and urban expansion in Srinagar city – a geospatial approach. Int. Arch. Photogramm., Remote Sensing Spat. Inf. Sci., 2014, XL-8, 709.
  • Meraj, G., Romshoo, S. A., Yousuf, A. R., Altaf, S. and Altaf, F., Assessing the influence of watershed characteristics on the flood vulnerability of Jhelum basin in Kashmir Himalaya. Nat. Haz., 2015, 77, 153–175; doi:10.1007/s11069-015-1605-1.
  • Joshi, P. K., Rashid, H. and Roy, P. S., Landscape dynamics in Hokersar wetland, Jammu and Kashmir – an application of geospatial approach. J. Indian Soc. Remote Sensing, 2002, 30, 1–5.
  • Romshoo, S. A., Ali, N. and Rashid, I., Geoinformatics for characterizing and understanding the spatio-temporal dynamics (1969 to 2008) of Hokersar wetland in Kashmir Himalayas. Int. J. Phys. Sci., 2011, 6, 1026–1038; doi:10.5897/IJPS10.378.
  • Dar, R. A., Romshoo, S. A., Chandra, R. and Ahmad, I., Tectonogeomorphic study of the Karewa Basin of Kashmir Valley. J. Asian Earth Sci., 2014, 92, 143–156.

Abstract Views: 370

PDF Views: 133




  • On the Recent Floods in India

Abstract Views: 370  |  PDF Views: 133

Authors

Kamaljit Ray
India Meteorological Department, New Delhi 110 003, India
P. Pandey
CSIR-National Geophysical Research Institute, Hyderabad 500 007, India
C. Pandey
Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology, Dehradun 248 001, India
A. P. Dimri
School of Environmental Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi 110 067, India
K. Kishore
National Disaster Management Agency, New Delhi 110 029, India

Abstract


Floods in the Indian subcontinent have affected habitat, population, economy, etc. Due to the detrimental effects of recent floods on the economy, governance, etc., it is imperative to understand the associated dynamics, manifestations and fallouts for proper policy planning recommendations. The present study endeavours to provide an integrated rationale of meteorological and geomorphological aspects associated with four recent extreme floods in Uttarakhand (2013), Srinagar (2014), Chennai (2015) and Gujarat (2017). It is important to mention here that these floods occurred under different atmospheric circulations and geomorphological setting, and had an entirely different gambit for policy planning and governance. Consolidation of these issues will help policy planners and technologists, in case advance warning system based on these findings can be developed.

Keywords


Advance Warning System, Disaster Management, Floods, Governance, Policy Planning.

References





DOI: https://doi.org/10.18520/cs%2Fv117%2Fi2%2F204-218