In 2024, most of India received above average monsoon rainfall. Usually in the month of September, the monsoon winds return from the north-western states of India, but this year (2024) the monsoon winds are pouring heavy rains in the states of Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan, and some others.
In the states of Rajasthan, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Tripura, Kerala and some others monsoon winds have caused a lot of destruction with rain in July and August as well.
In the last week of July, around 400 people were killed by a number of landslides in Kerala's Wayanad district due to heavy rains. The first monsoon rain killed 8 people in Delhi, 35 people in Rajasthan and Gujarat in August and September, and 75 people in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. Along with loss of life, financial loss has also been high in various states of the country.
Landslides in the hilly states have disrupted roads at many places. Many multi-storied buildings (hotels, motels etc.) that were built along the river banks have been swallowed up by the rivers or buried under the sliding mountains. In plains, in cities and villages, water is visible everywhere. Roads have been turned into storm drains.
Water is flowing at high speed on the roads, railway lines and bridges etc. Five persons drowned in flooded underpasses in the National Capital Region, 3 persons in Delhi and 2 persons in Faridabad. Due to floods every year there are huge losses in different forms( cause fatalities among humans and animals,extensive damage to homes, business, crops and infrastructure) in different states of the country.
As always, the increasing incidents of floods in the country is being linked to climate change. This is such a fact that a common man easily believes. It is also true that this year the country received more rainfall than the average, but the incidents of floods are not only increasing due to climate change. Along with climate change, they are caused by the growing human interference in the natural environment, which is the second major reason.
First of all let us take the climate change. Earth's average temperature is rising rapidly. The year 2023 has been the hottest year on record. According to various agencies of the world, the average temperature of the earth has increased by more than 1 degree Celsius compared to the average temperature during the Pre-Industrial Revolution Period.
According to Europe's Copernicus Climate Change Service, this increase in 2023 is 1.48 degree Celsius and according to America's National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), this increase has been estimated at 1.38 degree Celsius. Every small fraction of temperature increase matters. A one degree increase in temperature increases short-term rainfall events by 7 times, frequency and severity of heat waves by 5 times, hurricane wind speed by 5 times and as well as the number and severity of wildfires many times.
As a result, the number of natural disasters is increasing rapidly in almost all the countries of the world. The Fifth (2014) and Sixth (2021-22) reports of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change also warned all countries of the world that if greenhouse gas emissions are not rapidly reduced, no country in the world will be able to avoid the negative effects of climate change.
These reports also stated that India and China will be more affected by climate change than other countries of the world. According to a 2020 report prepared by the Council of Energy, Environment and Water, an Indian organization, 75 percent of the country's districts have already come under the grip of natural disasters caused by climate change. This report further stated that during the last five decades (1970-2019), there has been an 8-fold increase in flood incidents in the country.
These studies and reports show that India has come under the grip of climate change due to which the number of natural disasters are increasing day by day. Although the number of natural disasters has increased due to climate change, the intensity of their impact has increased by human activities. Humans have changed the flow of rivers through their activities.
By constructing big dams on the rivers, they have been converted into streams and seasonal river channels and various constructions have been made on the flood plains of rivers and their catchment areas. Human activities are increasing the incidents of natural disasters such as floods due to the construction on the lakes, ponds and low-lying areas in villages and cities where rainwater used to collect.
In 2014 in Srinagar, 2015 in Chennai, 2018 in Kerala, 2022 in Bangalore, severe floods occurred due to constructions in the flow area of seasonal rivers, ponds, and lakes. The main reason for the accumulation of water in Delhi and Gurugram after even light rains is the result of construction on the local water bodies ( lakes and ponds) filling them. Seasonal streams /drains in Gurugram used to carry rainwater to Nazafgarh lake, but due to construction on them, rainwater started flooding the roads.
Andhra Pradesh and Telangana also suffered heavy losses due to construction on the catchment areas of Krishna and Godavari rivers. The Kak seasonal stream used to flow in the Chunghi area of Jaisalmer (Rajasthan) which became extinct due to low rainfall.
Various constructions have taken place in the empty and dried up stream basin and its catchment area . This year due to heavy rains, the streams overflowed and flooded the structures built in the course of the streams and caused heavy damage.
Most of the areas in Kerala fall under the ecologically sensitive zone. According to the Gadgil Committee report, 87 percent of the Western Ghats area falls in the environmentally sensitive area.
The Committee recommended that there should be no construction(new dams, new cities), mining, etc. activities in this area, but the Kerala government rejected the report and allowed such activities to continue in an environmentally sensitive area. The Wayanad disaster was caused by the landslide of hollow hills after heavy rains as a result of mining of minerals.
In hilly states like Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh, the main causes of post-rain disasters are indiscriminate deforestation, construction of excessive number of dams on rivers and four-lane roads. As the newly emerging Himalayan mountains are blasted with explosives during the construction of dams and four-lane roads, hollow mountains are sliding down, causing massive destruction.
Although the increase in natural disasters like floods is due to climate change, more destruction is caused by human activities. To get rid of the devastation caused by floods, the union and state governments should take strict measures for development in any area (hills/plains, villages/towns) of the country, be it four-lane roads or dams on rivers and before proceeding with the constructions, take a geological survey and environment impact assessment of the particular location.
Along with this, the opinion of local people should be taken. There should be a total ban on construction of any kind in the catchment areas and floodplains of rivers/streams so that natural calamities (floods etc.) due to seasonal climate change can be easily dealt with. Before the onset of monsoon, all types of seasonal streams and drains should be properly cleaned, as seasonal streams/ drains, due to years of lack of cleaning, can grow mud and silt along with various types of vegetation.
Due to this, their water-carrying capacity decreases as a result of which water flows over their banks and enters the surrounding areas and takes the form of floods.During construction in cities and villages, lakes,ponds etc. have been encroached on, which were the sources of rainwater storage, due to which the water that goes into the lakes, ponds, etc., starts flowing on the roads after rain.
To avoid this, recharge wells should be constructed at the places where water is collected (underpasses of roads and low lying areas) after the rainfall. To reduce incidents of landslides in hilly areas explosive materials should not be used at all for construction of roads and dams in environmentally sensitive areas.Instead of four-lane roads in the hilly areas the width of the roads should be as per the capacity of the area. Rainwater conservation should be done on top priority from individual to national levels .
Dr Gurinder Kaur is a former professor, Department of Geography, Punjabi University, Patiala. views expressed are the writer’s own.