Floods in India

Flooding occurs when extreme volume of water is dired by rivers, creeks and many other geographical features into areas where the water cannot be drained adequately. Often during times of heavy rainfall, drainage systems in residential areas are not adequate, or unchecked civil development severely impedes the functionality of an otherwise acceptable drainage system. Floods cause extremelyi large numbers of fatalities in every country, but due to India's extremely high population density and often under-enforced development standards, large amount of damages and many deaths which could be otherwise avoided, are allowed to happen. India witnesses floodue to excessive rain which then results in overflow of rivers, lakes and dams, which adds to cause large amounts of damage to people's lives and property. In the past, India has witnessed many of the largest, most catastrophic floods, causing irreparable damage to people's livelihood, property, and crucial infrastructure.

This is a list of notable recorded floods that have occurred in India.

Before 1999

• In October 1943, Madras (now Chennai) saw the worst flood to hit the city. Flood occurred due to excessive rains that lasted for 6 days and overflowed Coovum and the Adyar rivers. Damage caused to life and property was immense however estimate figure is unknown.^[1]
• On 11 August 1979, the Machchu-2 dam situated on the Machhu river burst, thus flooding the town of Morbi in the Rajkot district of Gujarat.^[2] Exact figure of loss of lives is unknown, but it is estimated between 1800 and 2500 people.^[3][4][5]
• In 1987, Bihar state of India witnessed one of its worst flood till then. Flood occurred due to overflow of the Koshi river; which claimed lives of 1,399 humans, 302 animals and public property worth INR ₹68 billion (US$1.0 billion).

Present

• Heavy rains across the state of Maharashtra, including large areas of the metropolis Mumbai which received 994 mm (39.1 inches) alone on 26 July 2005 killed at-least 5,000 people. The day is still remembered as the day Mumbai came to a standstill, as the city faced worst ever rain. Mumbai International Airport remained closed for 30 hours, Mumbai-Pune Expressway was closed for 24 hours with public property loss was estimated at ₹550 crore (US$82 million).
• June 2015 Gujarat flood: Heavy rain in June 2015 resulted in widespread flood in Saurashtra region of Gujarat resulting in more than 70 deaths. The wild life of Gir Forest National Park and adjoining area was also affected.^[6][7]
• July 2015 Gujarat flood:Heavy rain in July 2015 resulted in widespread flood in north Gujarat resulting in more than 70 deaths.^[8]
• 2015 South Indian floods:Heavy rain in Nov-Dec 2015 resulted in flooding of Adyar, Cooum rivers in Chennai , Tamil Nadu resulting in financial loss and human lives.
• 2016 Assam floods: Heavy rains in July–August resulted in floods affecting 1.8 million people and flooding the Kaziranga National Park killing around 200 wild animals.^[9]

References