What are the causes of floods in India? Throw some light on flood affected areas and give remedies also.
Answers
"Flood is a recurrent phenomenon every year in some parts of India.
Approximately 60% of the country's flood damage is caused by river floods, while 40% is caused by heavy rainfall and cyclone.
Damage to the rivers of the Himalayas accounts for 60% of the total damage to the country. Floods account for approximately half the destruction caused every year by natural hazards.
Reasons for floods:
Heavy downpours:
Severe flooding areas are mainly located in the Plains of Northern India.
The major cause of flooding is heavy rainfall in the shore areas of rivers and in poorly drained areas. In the Punjab-Haryana Plain, rivers sometimes overflow their banks and inundate the neighboring low-level regions.
Poor Drainage and Congestion:
In the eastern plains of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, large areas are flooded where Ganga receives its left bank tributaries, some during the rainy season, namely Ghaghara, Gandak, Burhi Gandak and Kosi and the right bank tributaries.
Land Depression:
The Assam Valley is another fertile belt affected by floods. Heavy rainfall in the north-east of Assam over 250 cm during the rainy season is the main cause of the Assam Valley floods
Deforested Catchment Areas:
In the coastal lowlands of Odisha, floods are nearly a regular feature. Devastating flooding occurs nearly every year in this belt. There are mainly two causes
(a) the deforested catchment areas of the rivers and
(b) the offshore bars that choke the river mouths and obstruct the free flow of water into the sea.
Cyclonic Storms:
The Godavari and Krishna deltas have also suffered floods over and over again. Lower Narmada and Tapti courses are confronted with a similar fate. The main cause of floods in these areas are also caused by incessant rains and the occurrence of high tides during the spate of rivers.
In the Peninsular Plateau of India, south of the Satpura Range, floods are not only much less destructive but also much less recurrent than in other parts of India.
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Causes of floods in India
Explanation:
Climatic change and Fluctuations:
Climate change is the major cause for large-scale floods across India, including the cities like Chennai (2015) Mumbai (2017), Kerala (2019), etc., Between the period of 1901-2015 the rainfall has extremely risen up to three-fold across the central and northern India (Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Telangana, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Odisha, Assam, regions of Western Ghats, Karnataka and Kerala). The increased warming in the Arabian Sea is also a reason for increasing fluctuations of the monsoon
Inadequate Infra Structure and Flood Management Systems:
Inundation of water occurs during extreme volume of water is contained by the rivers, streams and reservoirs. The rain water management system is not adequate enough in country like India. Design of drainage system is not satisfactory which creates huge problem during flood times in India. Flood can cause extreme numbers of fatalities, but in the highly populated density country like India with poor development standards many deaths occurs every year.
2015 Major Floods:
Heavy rain fall resulted in flooding of Cooum and Adyar rivers located in Chennai. Sudden uncontrolled outflow of water from sembarampakkam and poozhal lakes engulfed the surrounding areas completely, due to which countless human lives were lost. The flood also created huge impact on Tamil Nadu’s Economy, since it drastically affected its capital city Chennai.
2019 Major floods:
Series of floods affected more than 9 states in India. The states of Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh were severely affected.