Context: As floods swamp Hyderabad, the focus is on the inadequacy of drainage infrastructure

• A deep monsoon depression over the west central Bay of Bengal, resulted in downpours over several districts severely affecting the city of Hyderabad as well.
• According to the India Meteorological Department, it is the highest rainfall for October recorded in Telangana’s capital since 1903.
• Such a high intensity downpour in a short span is bound to affect a densely populated urban area, and Hyderabad was no exception.
• At least 24 people were killed and several localities submerged and isolated following incessant rains and the overflowing of the city’s lakes.
• Other districts were badly affected too: roads damaged and irrigation tanks breached.
• The monsoon storm that never became a cyclone, has managed to cross the east (Andhra Pradesh) and west coasts (north Karnataka and Maharashtra) of India.
• This is rare and a rain-related disaster event that is difficult to plan for.
• Floods and deluges, like any other disaster, disproportionately affect the poor.
• Disaster management agencies have managed to limit the impact of the disaster as many of those marooned in submerged areas and flooded houses were rescued.
• But the extent of the damage and the turmoil show a lack of preparation and disaster mitigation, a problem that plagues most urban centres in the country.

Overflowing of lakes

• Much of the damage was due to the overflowing of lakes — in particular, the Hussain Sagar Lake in the middle of the city and the breaching of storm water drains.
• Construction over lake beds and encroachments of drainage channels have been identified as problems that have exacerbated flooding and inundation in the city.
• But the little that has been done to unblock existing storm drains, sewerage and drainage system.

Need of the hour

• Hyderabad urgently needs to expand and remodel its drainage system.
• Besides lakes and canals, wetlands and watersheds play a vital role in absorbing excess rainfall, but regrettably, rapid urbanisation in the twin cities has resulted in the loss of a large portion of the wetlands.
• An analysis by the Centre for Science and Environment in 2016 revealed that 3,245 hectares of water bodies were lost in Hyderabad between 1989 and 2001.
• In the long term, the effects of flooding due to deluges can only be mitigated if urban planners take into account the hydro-geology of cities and ensure that construction, development and land occupation do not take place in a way that reduces the area of wetlands.

https://www.thehindu.com/opinion/editorial/dealing-with-a-deluge-the-hindu-editorial-on-hyderabad-floods/article32865504.ece?homepage=true

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