India: Kerala battles worst floods since 1924

By Akshit Sangomla

Kerala is currently experiencing its worst floods since 1924 due to an overactive South West Monsoon season, says chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan. He said this in an official memorandum to the Union home minister Rajnath Singh. The seasonal rainfall percentage in the state has jumped by 4 per cent only because of the rain in the last two days. Excess rainfall in the state was 15 per cent on August 8, which increased to 19 per cent, according to the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD).

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Yes, deforestation and change in land use patterns appear to have played a role.  Idukki and Wayanad districts are considered among the most heavily forested regions in the state. However, both the districts have seen a gradual decline in their forest cover between 2011 and 2017. The total forest cover in Idukki came down from 3,930 sq km to 3,139 sq km, a decrease of 20.13 per cent. In Wayanad, the forests have shrunk from 1,775 sq km to 1,580 sq km, a decrease of 11 per cent. This could be a reason why Idukki and Wayanad are now highly vulnerable to flash flooding.

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On top of that, the Central Water Commission (CWC), India’s only flood forecasting agency, was also caught unawares about the flood situation in Kerala. Despite the fact that heavy rain and flooding is not uncommon in Kerala, surprisingly, CWC does not have any flood forecasting system in Kerala. This deprives the local of any scope for preparing better. Though CWC has flood monitoring sites in Kerala, at least one of these is currently non-functional.

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Experts are questioning as to why the dam water was not released earlier and the authorities waited for the situation to turn intense, especially when districts of Idukki, Malappuram, Wayanad, Ernakulam, Kannur, Palakkad and Kozhikode have already seen rain-related deaths, mostly from landslides and flash floods.

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