Madhya Pradesh has been soaking wet for many days. Maharashtra-Gujarat are drowning. The situation in Tamil Nadu is worsening. Flood-like conditions have developed in some areas of the capital Delhi as well. Last week, the situation in Pune, Maharashtra had worsened so much due to floods that the army had to be deployed. Still, there are many states where the rainfall has been a little more or less than normal. Whereas, there are some states which are yearning for water.
Amid the torrential rains and floods in many places in India, a government report has raised concerns. The Water Commission report states that in the last 37 years, more than 2 crore hectares of land across the country has been destroyed due to floods.
In this report on flood affected areas, it has been told that between 1986 and 2022, 2.05 crore hectares of land in 712 districts has been destroyed. Understand it this way that the amount of land destroyed by floods in 37 years is more than the area of Gujarat. The area of Gujarat is 1.96 lakh square km, whereas 2.05 crore hectares i.e. 2 lakh square km of land has been destroyed due to floods.
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According to the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), India is more vulnerable to floods. Out of the total area of 32.87 lakh sq km of India, 4 lakh sq km is an area where the danger of floods remains.
How much is India affected by floods?
After America and China, India is at third place where most natural disasters occur. Among these, flood is the most dangerous.
A United Nations report shows that China and India are worst affected by floods. Every year at least 17 places in India are flooded. This affects 34.5 crore people. Whereas, in China, on an average 20 areas are flooded every year and this affects 90 crore people.
According to the United Nations, from 2011 to 2020, an average of 1500 Indians have died every year due to floods. However, the government figures are slightly different from this. According to government figures, floods have killed 4,106 people in the six years between 2017 and 2022. That is, an average of 684 people died every year.
How bad is the situation due to flood?
India is among those countries of the world where the situation of floods is very bad. The report of the Water Commission released last week shows that between 1986 and 2022, more than 2 crore hectares of land has been affected by floods.
According to the report, all the districts of UP and Bihar are flood affected. More than 50 lakh hectares of land in 75 districts of UP is affected by floods. At the same time, more than 29 lakh hectares of land in 38 districts of Bihar has been affected. Whereas, more than 24 lakh hectares of all 33 districts of Assam are affected by floods. That is, half of the flood affected area in the country is in these three states.
Apart from these, coastal states like Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha and West Bengal also face the threat of floods.
These rivers cause floods
– Ganges Rivers Ganga, which stretches from the Himalayas of Uttarakhand to the Bay of Bengal, is the largest river in India. This river is 2500 km long. Ganga river causes floods in Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and West Bengal. According to the Water Commission, 54% of the area of the states falling in the Ganga basin is flood-affected.
– Brahmaputra The Brahmaputra, which originates from China, is the ninth longest river in the world. Brahmaputra causes floods in Assam every year. 13% of India’s area is affected by floods due to Brahmaputra. This year too, Assam was flooded due to Brahmaputra. This year, more than 66 thousand people were affected due to floods in Assam.
– Kosi: The Kosi river, which originates from the Himalayas of Nepal, brings troubles to Bihar every year. Especially in Saharsa, Supaul, Madhepura and the surrounding districts. The length of the Kosi river is 720 km, out of which 260 km flows in Nepal and 460 km in Bihar. Kosi is also considered the lifeline of Bihar, but it also causes floods every year.
– Narmada Narmada, which passes through Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Gujarat, is the third longest river flowing within India. Its length is more than 1300 km. Every year, due to rain, Narmada causes floods in many areas of Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat.
– Cauvery and Godavari: The Kaveri river originating from Karnataka passes through Tamil Nadu and falls into the Bay of Bengal. It is about 800 km long. Due to Kaveri, there is a danger of floods in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. On the other hand, Godavari originates from Nasik in Maharashtra and passes through Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. Godavari is 1,465 km long.
… but many areas are still dry
The monsoon season in India is from June to September. The monsoon is about to complete two months. In these two months, many areas of the country are receiving heavy rainfall, but most of the areas are still dry.
According to the Meteorological Department, out of 729 districts across the country, 214 i.e. 30% districts have received heavy rainfall. Whereas, 237 i.e. 33% districts have received normal rainfall. But there are 279 i.e. 37% districts where very little rainfall has occurred so far. Most of these are states like UP, Bihar, Jharkhand and Bengal.
Despite very little rainfall in many areas, flood-like situation has arisen in these states. The reason for this is that there was a lot of rain in a single day. This is called flash flood. Due to heavy rainfall in a short period of time, the water does not find a place to drain out and this causes floods. This trend has increased a lot in the last few years.
But why is this happening?
Actually, the monsoon pattern is changing rapidly. Not only in India, but due to climate change, this trend is being seen in many parts of the world.
Years ago, it used to rain for four months. But now it does not happen. Now, it rains a lot in a short period of time. When there is excessive rain in a short period of time, flood-like conditions arise.
The Meteorological Department presented its report in March 2020 after analyzing the data of Southwest Monsoon from 1989 to 2018. In this report, it was told that the pattern of monsoon is changing in many states of the country. In these 30 years (1989 to 2018), a huge decrease in Southwest Monsoon has been observed in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal, Meghalaya and Nagaland.
Either the rainfall is decreasing or there is more rainfall in less time, both the reasons are increasing drought. Between 1951 and 2016, on an average, more than 2 droughts have been experienced in every decade. During the same period, the area affected by drought has also increased by 1.3% every decade.
How is rainfall decreasing? Understand it this way. According to the Meteorological Department, between 1961 and 2010, an average of 1176.9 mm of rain fell every year. Whereas, between 1971 and 2020, 1160.1 mm of rain fell.
Due to less rainfall, the level of measuring normal rainfall has also decreased. Earlier, 880.6 mm of rainfall was considered normal in the South West Monsoon season. But now 868.6 mm of rainfall is considered normal.