Droughts and Floods

Kamla, Kosi and Bagmati rivers in rage, disrupt life

Incessant rains in Terai region of Bihar and Nepal causes floods in North Bihar as many rivers rise above the danger mark. Swati Bansal posted 6 months ago

Due to intermittent rains in the Terai region of Bihar and Nepal, the water level of Mahananda, Kosi, Kamla and Bagmati rivers of North Bihar is continuously increasing and flood conditions have started to build in the region.

Locals provide aid to people hit by floods in Bihar

Floods in Bihar: Government prepares to shift people to safer places

As flood situation hits the state, the government is working towards taking people to safer places and preparing itself for the rescue efforts. Swati Bansal posted 6 months ago

Due to incessant rains, many rivers in Bihar are in spate and there is a situation of floods in the state. Meanwhile, the Meteorological Department has forecasted heavy rains for the next two-three days, which may worsen the situation.

Heavy rains predicted

Children drinking milk at a flood relief centre in Bihar (Source: Bhartiya Jan Utthan Parishad)

Drone to help monitor embankments and save people trapped in floods

This year, along with working at the grass root level to deal with floods, the Bihar government is also focussing on the full use of state-of-the-art technologies. Swati Bansal posted 6 months ago

#HelloWRD: A social media campaign

Completed flood protection in Naruar, Bihar (Image Source: Water Resources Department, Government of Bihar, Twitter handle)

Flood batters Assam, over 16 lakh people hit

News this week Swati Bansal posted 6 months ago

Flood situation in Assam continues to remain grim

Assam plaued by the annual flood menace (Image Source: Akash Basumatari)

Floods in Bihar: Helping government fight embankment breach

As fear of flood looms over Bihar, the state government has launched the campaign #HelloWRD for people to reach out to them if they observe any embankment breach or crack in their area. Swati Bansal posted 6 months 1 week ago

Every year, incessant rainfall during the monsoon causes floods in the state, with North Bihar being the worst affected.

Ways in which the government can be informed about the embankment breach in your area (Image source: Water Resources Department, Government of Bihar, Twitter handle)

Surviving in uncertainty

Gram Vikas stepped up to ensure access to adequate food and to strengthen dignified income-earning opportunities for the most vulnerable households. Amita Bhaduri posted 6 months 1 week ago

Uncertainty - the pervasive feeling that all of us have been living with from the middle of March 2020. It's the same in our partner villages in Odisha and Jharkhand. Communities we work with have been facing and overcoming uncertainties all through their lives. But this time, the crisis has put unusual stress on their abilities to cope.

Covid-19 and floods: A double whammy for Assam

Assam is plagued by the annual flood menace, but this time it is battling the fury of floods amid the coronavirus pandemic. Amita Bhaduri posted 6 months 1 week ago

It is an annual episode that plays itself out. Assam is, once again, reeling under flood – loss of human and animal life, severe damage to agricultural crops, property, millions of people displaced from their homes, absence of flood preparedness or early warning systems, delayed relief action by the government and the silent apathy of the mainstream media.

A reflection on multi-faceted droughts in Bundelkhand region

Alternatives have to be re-adapted to the understanding of droughts in the wake of climate change. Amita Bhaduri posted 6 months 2 weeks ago

Drought conditions are not new to Bundelkhand. The acute situation now is a convergence of three types of droughts – meteorological, agricultural and hydrological - cumulatively coinciding as witnessed in Nunagar village in Panna district, Madhya Pradesh. We saw hundreds of vessels queuing up at the panchayat well.

Child walks through the parched field for kilometers to fetch water in peak summer in village Banjari (Image: Reshma Sahoo)

Protecting mangroves, to deal with cyclones

Mangroves not only help India economically by protecting coastal assets during cyclones, but also help by protecting people in densely populated coastal areas. aartikelkar posted 6 months 3 weeks ago

Coastal flooding is rising in India and recent evidence shows that as high as 36 million Indians will be at the risk of chronic flooding by 2050.

Mangroves of the Sundarbans. (Source: Nature Environment & Wildlife Society - NEWS)

Flood threat looms amid Covid-19 in Bihar

Can Bihar deal with the double whammy of Covid-19 and the annual floods? Amita Bhaduri posted 6 months 3 weeks ago

Bihar’s annual floods are right around the corner and there is a fear that the flood hazard will collide with the Covid-19 pandemic and amplify it in a manner that emergency responses to both will get disrupted. The state’s strategy to mitigate the effects of flooding needs to be updated in light of the deadly pandemic.