Deprecated (16384): The ArrayAccess methods will be removed in 4.0.0.Use getParam(), getData() and getQuery() instead. - /home/brlfuser/public_html/src/Controller/ArtileDetailController.php, line: 150
 You can disable deprecation warnings by setting `Error.errorLevel` to `E_ALL & ~E_USER_DEPRECATED` in your config/app.php. [CORE/src/Core/functions.php, line 311]
Deprecated (16384): The ArrayAccess methods will be removed in 4.0.0.Use getParam(), getData() and getQuery() instead. - /home/brlfuser/public_html/src/Controller/ArtileDetailController.php, line: 151
 You can disable deprecation warnings by setting `Error.errorLevel` to `E_ALL & ~E_USER_DEPRECATED` in your config/app.php. [CORE/src/Core/functions.php, line 311]
Warning (512): Unable to emit headers. Headers sent in file=/home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Error/Debugger.php line=853 [CORE/src/Http/ResponseEmitter.php, line 48]
Warning (2): Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Error/Debugger.php:853) [CORE/src/Http/ResponseEmitter.php, line 148]
Warning (2): Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Error/Debugger.php:853) [CORE/src/Http/ResponseEmitter.php, line 181]
Interviews | Sharad Chandra, director, flood forecast monitoring division, Central Water Commission (CWC), interviewed by Shagun Kapil (Down to Earth)
Sharad Chandra, director, flood forecast monitoring division, Central Water Commission (CWC), interviewed by Shagun Kapil (Down to Earth)

Sharad Chandra, director, flood forecast monitoring division, Central Water Commission (CWC), interviewed by Shagun Kapil (Down to Earth)

Share this article Share this article
published Published on Nov 4, 2020   modified Modified on Nov 5, 2020

-Down to Earth

Sharad Chandra, director, flood forecast monitoring division, Central Water Commission, spoke to DTE on increasing instances of urban flooding  

Urban flooding is increasingly becoming a common occurrence in India, the latest victim being Hyderabad.

The city received unusually heavy rainfall October 13-14, 2020, due to a deep depression that developed in the Bay of Bengal. Heavy damage to property, roads and human lives were reported. Experts have argued that rapid urbanisation exacerbated the process.

Down To Earth spoke with Sharad Chandra, director, flood forecast monitoring division, Central Water Commission (CWC), to understand the phenomenon and the way ahead. Edited excerpts:

Shagun Kapil: Urban flooding has become an annual event now, especially in southern and western India.

Sharad Chandra: There are two factors behind the phenomenon. Rainfall pattern has changed completely; that is, we now get intense rainfall in fewer days. Floods usually occur due to extreme rainfall, in which case run-off is generated. The infiltration capacity of the ground surface falls short, leading to the generation of more run-off.

The infiltration capacity has also decreased due to more concretisation. More pavements are coming up, and drains don’t have the capacity to carry so much run-off.

The recent Hyderabad floods showed that along with climate change, the city is also bearing the brunt of poor planning and encroachment of its lakes. Near 50 per cent of Hyderabad lakes are full; their capacity has decreased due to encroachment, siltation and dumping of solid waste.

We should have considered expanding these lakes. Water bodies are an essential source of flood moderation and act as retention or detention basin. The importance of these water bodies is not being realised.

(Retention basin just retains water during high run-off and detention basin absorbs water during floods and this water can be diverted to a stream or river itself for different purposes when flood recedes).

Please click here to read more.

 

Image Courtesy: https://twitter.com/CWCOfficial_GoI/status/107243473378572
2880?s=20



Related Articles

 

Write Comments

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

*

Video Archives

Archives

share on Facebook
Twitter
RSS
Feedback
Read Later

Contact Form

Please enter security code
      Close