Why Does Uttar Pradesh’s Mirzapur Flood Every Year Despite A Steady Decline In Rainfall?

In August 2025, the Ganga swelled dangerously, rising to 78.460 metres in Chunar and Sadar tehsils — just short of its 1978 peak of 80.34 metres and well above the danger mark of 73.60 metres. Official data identified Mirzapur as the worst hit, with 393 villages inundated and 67 completely cut off. The Irrigation Department sounded an alert, and the administration set up 37 flood posts to coordinate relief.

But the story is bigger than a single surge. Bare ridges, abandoned quarries, and expanding settlements on floodplains now push rainwater downhill faster, leaving the river fewer places to spread safely. The result is routine waterlogging, crop losses, and risky evacuations year after year.

Spread over 4,521 sq. kms., Mirzapur lies in the Vindhyachal hills. The climate is semi-arid, with annual rainfall of about 1,100 mm, nearly 90 per cent of which falls during the monsoon. The district is also listed among Uttar Pradesh’s drought-prone areas. Much of its terrain is rocky and flat, forcing farmers to rely heavily on groundwater. Around 40 per cent of the land is cultivable, split between the Ganga plains and the Vindhyan tract, but irrigation remains largely unorganised. Agriculture is the mainstay, with rice, pulses, wheat, bajra, potato, onion, dragon fruit, banana, spices, and vegetables as major crops.

Experts point to two practical fixes: restoring vegetation on ridges and mined slopes to slow runoff, and strictly enforcing floodplain zoning so homes and roads don’t sit in harm’s way. This piece documents the losses, maps the causes, and outlines what Mirzapur can do now to break the cycle.

Thousands of acres of standing crops destroyed by floods

In Dhanaita Majhra Kala village of Chunar tehsil, Prashant Singh told IWP: “Floods come every year; that is routine. But since 2013, this is the worst we have seen. Roads from the village are cut off. Fifteen villages in Chunar are affected. The only way to move around is by boat. All our crops are gone. Chillies, moong and maize are grown across the area, and nearly four square kilometres of fields are under water. I have lost 24 bighas of crops. We invested nearly Rs 15,000 per bigha—all of it wasted.”

Majhra Kala village alone has 15,000 acres of farmland, now submerged. Village pradhan Vinod Kumar Singh said: “The village is flooded, water has entered houses. We are trying to move people to safer places. Boats have been arranged for residents. With no electricity, drinking water has become a problem. Bottled water is being supplied. The village has a population of 5,000. Farmers’ crops are destroyed. Each farmer has lost nearly Rs 1 lakh. Farmers depend on their own effort, not on the government. The government gives only Rs 1,000–1,500 per bigha as compensation. That is of no use.”

The flood has not only forced people to spend nights on the roofs of their houses, it has also stalled all work, pushing many into a livelihood crisis.

District Magistrate Pawan Kumar Gangwar said: “The floods have affected 393 villages across two tehsils — 216 in Sadar and 177 in Chunar. Nearly 10,314 hectares of standing crops have been damaged. To maintain connectivity in affected villages, 99 ordinary boats and 53 motorboats have been deployed. ORS packets and chlorine tablets have been distributed. Five relief camps are running during the floods, while 38 medical teams are stationed at flood posts. For livestock, 66 camps have been set up.”

Deputy Director of Agriculture, Vikesh Patel, added: “Crops in 284 revenue villages have been affected by the floods. Joint crop loss surveys are being carried out by officials from the revenue and agriculture departments along with representatives of SBI Insurance. In gram panchayats where more than 50 per cent of crops have been damaged, insured farmers will be provided immediate compensation by the insurance company.”

Health crisis deepens as access is cut off

Rita, 35, an ASHA worker from Mallepur village in Sadar tehsil, said: “Most houses in the village are submerged. There is a shortage of food and drinking water. To escape the floods, villagers take their cattle and essential belongings up to the hills. Women and children are sent to stay with relatives. I had to get treatment for my son but there was no boat available. I walked through waist-deep water carrying him to the hospital.”

In Hasipur village of Chunar tehsil, another ASHA worker, Lakshmina Devi, 47, recalled taking a pregnant woman by boat to the Magarha primary health centre for delivery, only to find the centre without electricity.

Struggle to feed and shelter livestock

Mithailal Yadav, 65, of Mallepur village in Sadar tehsil, told IWP: “There is no fodder for the cattle. We have taken them to the forest, away from the flood-affected area, to graze. My two sons are there with the animals and will stay until the waters recede. After that, we will have to buy fodder. We have eight animals. It is a very difficult situation.”

Another resident, Munshilal, also 65, pointed to his submerged house: “We have nothing to eat or drink, everything is under water. The cattle are tied up on the roof. There is no green fodder, it is all submerged, so we are feeding them husk. The children too are suffering. When it rains, we cover the roof with plastic sheets and sleep there, but we still get drenched. Inside the house, there is almost five feet of water.”

Why Mirzapur Faces Floods Every Year?

A recent study covering 75 districts in Uttar Pradesh identifies Mirzapur as one of the districts where rainfall has steadily declined over the past fifty years (1973-2023). Yet, almost every year, the district is hit by floods.

“Mirzapur is a city nestled in the Vindhya hills. Water from the mountains flows rapidly into rivers,” explains Harish Tiwari, a botany professor at Kanhaiyalal Basantlal Postgraduate College, to India Water Portal. “Water from several rivers—Karnawati, Ganga, Yamuna, Tons—reaches Mirzapur via the Ganga. Here, the water tends to stagnate. Earlier, trees along the riverbanks prevented the water from spreading, but with continuous tree felling, floods have become frequent. Trees also aid in evapotranspiration, which lowers water levels rapidly. They play a crucial role in the rainfall cycle. Cutting trees affects rainfall patterns—delays, premature rains, or droughts are all linked to this disruption. In the past two years alone, 40,000 to 50,000 trees have been cut in Mirzapur. The government should be prepared for such situations in advance. Promoting afforestation and planting as many trees as possible could help reduce flood risks.”

At the same college, geography lecturer Dr. Preetam Singh points to two major reasons behind Mirzapur’s recurring floods.

“First, floods don’t pose a problem if there are no settlements along riverbanks. But here, buildings are being constructed in the floodplains along rivers, which inevitably get caught in the floodwaters,” he explains.

“Second, the nature of the monsoon is changing. We are now seeing intense rainfall over short periods. Rivers have a certain capacity to carry water to the sea, but sudden heavy downpours often exceed this capacity, triggering floods.”

He elaborates, “Many rivers converge into the Ganga. From the southern Vindhya plateau, rivers like Ken, Betwa, and Chambal join the Yamuna, which then merges with the Ganga at Allahabad. Plateau rivers from Madhya Pradesh also flow into the Ganga. From Uttarakhand, rivers such as Ramganga, Rapti, and Sarayu feed into it as well. The Ganga’s catchment area is vast. After the Sangam at Prayagraj, Mirzapur comes next. When these tributaries experience heavy rainfall, floodwaters accumulate in Mirzapur. This stagnation causes maximum damage to crops and residential areas.”

Professor Venkatesh Datta, a river expert at Dr. Bhimrao Ambedkar University, Lucknow, explains, “Flooding is a natural process. It shows that rivers have energy and are healthy. Rivers follow their own cycle, and the floodplains of the Ganga have been formed over time because of floods. The problem arises from population growth. Residential areas are expanding into flood zones, with encroachments increasing. It’s not that rivers are suddenly flooding—rivers have been doing this for millions of years.”

He also points to the role of climate change. “The monsoon cycle has been disrupted, with an increase in extreme rainfall events. Western disturbances also have an impact. As a result, heavy rainfall over short periods, lightning strikes, and cloudburst events have become common. Earlier, rains would last continuously for four months, but now it’s gradually reduced to 18–20 days.”

To mitigate floods in the Ganga basin, Datta emphasizes non-structural measures. “It is important to install warning pillars in flood-prone areas. Pillars have already been placed along the Ganga up to Ballia. In Unnao and Kanpur, the first phase of pillar installation has been completed. Flood zones are also being mapped. These areas could be designated as green zones, where no construction is allowed. Mapping with pillars is essential. In areas with severe erosion, embankments can be built using sandbags filled with soil.”

He also refers to the directions issued by the National Green Tribunal to the Delhi government, which identified areas that could be affected by floods even once in a century and prohibited construction in these zones. Dr. Datta emphasizes that these rules must be strictly enforced, and populations residing in such areas should be relocated.

What the Administration Says

According to the administration, encroachment in flood-prone areas of Mirzapur is not a major problem. Gulabchand, the Sub-Divisional Magistrate (Sadar), says the district receives continuous directives from the National Green Tribunal. “Following these instructions, we coordinate with the District Magistrate and Superintendent of Police, ensuring that encroachments are not allowed,” he explains.

Regarding floodplain mapping, Pramod Kumar, Chief Engineer of the Irrigation Department, says the administration has initiated the tender process for pillar marking from the Prayagraj border to Bhatouli Bridge in Mirzapur. Similarly, pillar marking will soon begin in the Chunar Irrigation Division and along the left bank of the Ganga up to Bhandi block in Varanasi.

On issuing warnings to citizens during floods, the Sub-Divisional Magistrate adds, “Before the floods, our teams visited villages to alert people. Lekhpals, BDOs, Panchayat Secretaries, and village heads used drums to warn residents and advise them on safety measures.”

To understand the causes of flooding, India Water Portal spoke with Dr. Priyank Patel from Presidency University, Kolkata, whose insights are presented here in a question-and-answer format.

According to a recent study, rainfall during the monsoon in Mirzapur has decreased over the last 50 years (1973–2023), yet the district continues to experience floods. How can this be explained? What are the major reasons behind this seasonal flooding?

Rainfall within the district of Mirzapur and neighbouring region may have declined, but the principal river coursing along this district – the Ganga – carries through it the combined waters of its tributaries up to that point. This covers a very large region straddling the Himalayas as well as a substantial portion of the northern Peninsular region.

As India has experienced notably heavy rainfall this year, particularly in the Himalayas (with a spate of cloudburst and flash flood events recorded and reported in the media), sustained high flows in the Ganga are to be expected. However, it is also to be noted that a quick analysis of inundation zones within Mirzapur district for the last 40 years (1984 – 2021) from the Global Surface Water Dataset archives does not reveal large swathes of the district to be regularly inundated by riverine flooding along the Ganga.

A more pertinent cause for the flooding experienced presently in the district is likely to be the high runoff from the hills that cover its central and southern sections. These hills denote the northern limit of India’s Peninsular region and form an important geographical boundary with the Ganga Plain. As is evident from a quick analysis of the land use and land cover changes in the district from 2000 to 2020 using the University of Maryland’s Global Land Cover Facility datasets, substantial swathes of the district consist of almost bare rock surfaces with sparse vegetation or have very short grass cover.

High-intensity downpours on these uplands would swiftly generate runoff that can cause a flash flood like situation. The land cover change datasets till 2020 and present-day Google Earth images reveal a substantial clearing of the short grass cover over these uplands and ridges, which can further augment this runoff. These ridges are also being quarried in a number of locations for building stone (presumably sandstone, which is famous as Chunar stone) and thus the bare surfaces produced by ground clearance above higher runoff during rainfall events. The Times of India (25th August, 2025), reported that emergency water release had to be done from the Ahraura and Jargo dams/reservoirs located near Chunar, in the eastern part of Mirzapur district, in the aftermath of sustained downpours.

Both of these reservoirs have quarries located close to them (historical images from Google Earth reveal an intensification of the quarrying in recent times), from which presumably runoff in substantial volume flows into them. The creation of bare surfaces and its loosening through mining would also generate more sediment that will be borne by such high flows into the reservoirs and thus silt them up and reduce their water retention capacity over time (with limited efficiency as a flood buffer).

The land cover change data also shows rise in built-up area in the district, particularly away from Mirzapur town and along the intervening valleys between the hills and ridges. The rise in such impervious surfaces (though minimal) can eventually augment the overall runoff from areas where previously there was infiltration and surface retention of water, and thus increase the overall flooding effect in the adjacent lower plains.

Is the geographical location of this district also responsible for the recurring floods?

The district of Mirzapur has quite a unique geographical location. It is one of the first districts located immediately downstream of the confluence of the Ganga and Yamuna at Prayagraj, and thus the River Ganga coursing along its northern boundary carries the combined discharge of these two mighty rivers, along with the water supplied by their multitude of tributaries further upstream. These tributaries emanate mostly from the Middle to Lower Himalayas, which receive substantial amounts of rainfall, but also, crucially, in case of the Yamuna, large tributaries like the Chambal and Betwa that arise from the northwestern section of the Indian Peninsular block. Thus, a substantially large area is drained by these two rivers, causing a rise in the water level in the Ganga and flooding the adjacent tracts of its floodplain in Mirzapur.

However, Mirzapur’s geographical location has another unique aspect – it is again one of the few districts to lie along the boundary zone between the Indian Peninsular region and the Great Northern Plains. As a result of this, the topography of the district consists of hills and ridges in its central and southern sections, that are interspersed with rolling plains and uplands, while the northern section has flatter plains, meander swales and floodplains along the Ganga. This causes rainfall on these hills to runoff quickly (where there is sparse to no vegetation) towards the northern plains and can induce inundation in those areas, especially if these comparatively low-lying areas area already waterlogged by overtopping of the Ganga at the same time.

A number of small dams and reservoirs are situated along the foot of these ridges, to conserve the runoff for the dry season, but during heavy rains, these can become vulnerable locations if there is high intensity runoff from the hills, as was reported by The Times of India (25th August, 2025), in case of the Ahraura and Jargo dams/reservoirs located near Chunar, in the eastern part of Mirzapur district.     

 What role do increased rainfall in upstream areas and sudden water releases from dams play in flooding in Mirzapur?

The Ganga along Mirzapur carries the combined discharge of all its upstream tributaries, from both the Himalayas and the Peninsular region. India has experienced notably heavy rainfall this year, particularly in the Himalayas, and so high flows in the Ganga are to be expected. More pertinently, several small dams are situated along the foot of the ridges that lie east to west across the district. Their largely bare (or only sparsely covered by short grass) surfaces can potentially generate high runoff that can overtop the reservoirs or induce flash floods.

The Times of India (25th August, 2025) reported how 21 gates of the Ahraura Dam in this district were opened to manage the incoming high runoff into the reservoir, which then led to the inundation of 24 villages in the Jamalpur area. Similarly, 8 gates of the Jargo Dam had to be opened on an emergency basis, resulting in downstream areas like Bharpur and Lal Darwaza getting flooded.

It is possible that poor land management in the upstream areas of these reservoirs can abet higher runoff or bring heightened sediment loads due to enhanced soil erosion from quarried tracts, which may silt up reservoirs and reduce their capacity, thus making them less effective and needing to release water on an emergency basis more frequently or even at lesser rainfall levels.

What is the current condition of the floodplain in Mirzapur, and how does it contribute to intensifying the impact of floods?

The land cover change data shows a rise in built-up area in the district, particularly away from Mirzapur town, along the main transport routes that traverse the floodplain. The rise in such impervious surfaces (though minimal) can eventually augment the overall runoff from areas where previously there was infiltration and surface retention of water and thus increase the overall flooding effect in the adjacent lower plains. However, this floodplain zone is largely rural, and there are meander swales and depressions where some runoff can collect, with these functioning as a flood storage or buffer region. Further transformation of the floodplain and its human occupation will obviously heighten the risk of floods for settlements. Of more pertinent concern are the low ridges that abut the floodplain just west of Mirzapur town and around Chunar in the east. These ridges have almost bare surfaces with sparse vegetation of short grass. During heavy downpours, it would be expected that there shall be substantial runoff from these areas towards the adjacent lowland plains, which can increase the waterlogging conditions in them substantially, especially if the Ganga is also at a high stage due to greater inflows from upstream.

What measures can be taken to protect Mirzapur from flooding?

The entry related to Disaster Management on the district website of Mirzapur mentions the following – “The major flood management programmes for the works done in the district are construction of embankments, drainage improvement, construction of reservoirs, deforestation, etc. Amendment to the sensitivity of flood damage due to flood prediction and disaster preparedness. And to improve the flow of the river, widening and deepening the drainage capacity to improve the river channel. Construction of nearby diversion channels to remove some extra floodwater from protected areas. “The flood control centre” was founded for the essentially important purpose of immediate measures to gather information on “Lucknow headquarters and Siki building-prone districts and embankment repair, etc.”

The District Administration statement outlines some of the methods that can be employed for flood effect mitigation in Mirzapur. It is to be noted that floods are a natural phenomenon and vital events that sustain floodplains and help maintain the ecosystem through a host of ecosystem services like replenishment of groundwater, flushing of sediments, nutrient transfer and increasing river connectivity for dispersal of plants and aquatic organisms.

Creation of settlements and infrastructure within floodplains increases their deleterious effects on residents, and the best mitigation measure is proper floodplain zonation and a phased withdrawal of habitations from the most flood-susceptible stretches. However, despite studies and calls for this to be done across the country, such measures are seemingly in abeyance. Further encroachment onto the floodplains and especially the construction of impervious built-up surfaces over them thus needs careful regulation. While the construction of embankments along riverbanks can be viable shorter-term hard engineering measures, studies show that nature-based solutions involving soft (soil- and vegetation-based) engineering can prove to be more fruitful and cost-effective, in combination with structural measures where needed.

Similarly, widening or deepening the River Ganga may induce channel instability in the reach of the river and enhance erosion, which would be counter-productive. Instead, the rejuvenation and creation of adjacent wetlands and meander swales alongside the river may prove to be useful, to function as green sponges that store the overflowing discharge from the Ganga during the monsoon. Site suitability studies for this, based on topographic and hydrological connectivity analyses, can be done.

Greening the exposed bare ridges around Mirzapur and Chunar towns (especially around where they have been or are being quarried) would reduce the runoff emanating from these surfaces and enhance infiltration. Regular de-silting of the various reservoirs situated along the foot of these ridges is also prudent to increase their capacity to retain higher runoff volume during intense rainstorms.

This story is produced as part of the India Water Portal Regional Story Fellowship 2025.