India's preparedness to handle monsoon fury

India's Preparedness to Handle Monsoon India's Preparedness to handle monsoon fury.This monsoon witnessed heavier rains, land slides, collapse of walls, flooding due to overflowing rivers and in most cases nullahs. This has happened in many states ranging from Assam to Kerala, Gujarat to Orissa, Centre state of MP,UP and Bihar. Even Karnataka and Maharashtra got marooned consistently. The authorities were helplessly watching along with people affected.Similar heavy rains were also witnessed by city of Houston in USA. There was flooding on roads, on airport and life was affected very much. This was a day prior to Indian Prime Minister's #HowdyModi event. However, this event was unaffected with the attendance of 50k people in a stadium with uninterrupted power supply available.Now let us look at Mumbai. Every monsoon this city gets flooded. Schools and Colleges are forced to shut down along with many offices.Mumbai recorded rainfall of 3670 mm this year and it is still pouring. It has experienced heavy showers ( 115 to 200mm) 5 times this year.There is Milan Sub Way at Santacruz which gets submerged for last 40 years or more and authorities have no clue as to how to stop the same. They made elevated platform path within the subway area so that light vehicles can pass through. In case of heavy showers even this gets submerged.Hindmata, Elphinston road ( Prabhadevi now) ,Naigam ,Mahim ,Sion ,Andheri Flyover ,Saki Naka, Kalina,Malad Station, Wadala are some of areas which get flooded every year. Even residents and commuters know that there shall be water logging in these areas. There is underground water drainage system in this place which takes rain water to sea. In case of high tide, the sea does not take this water flow and pushes it back. This year Municipal Corporation installed dewatering pumps but system did not help at all. Other thing which they are doing is to install huge pumps to dewater this area. They also obtained permission from high court to axe some of trees. However it did not work.Basically we have gone against nature. Hindmata area is reclaimed land between island of Parel and Dadar. Earlier water was free flowing between these islands and we stopped the same. In case of Kalina extension of Mumbai airport runway blocked flow of Mithi River and it has expanded to residential area of Kalina. Waterlogging at Sion station is also attributable to similar reason.Bandra Kurla is reclamation and so also back bay and Bandra. When you block flow of water at some place then it swells at some other place. Mangroves around Mumbai are to accommodate such flood waters. During 26th July heavy rains areas of Versova-Juhu were spared of flooding due to mangroves around. However land sharks are slowly removing these mangroves and buildings are being constructed with sea facing apartments. Mumbai has set up Disaster Management Cell. They are working in close co-ordination with Indian Meteorological department. Warnings are issued to public about possibility of heavy rains. Rubber inflated boats are placed in areas wherein flooding takes place. Coast guard helicopters are used. However this is too little measures and every monsoon it is ordeal for Mumbai residents.While we criticize administration for plight which they throw us in there is very little they can do. 

Following things to be noted.1) Monsoon has changed. There is too much rain in too short time. Earlier rain showers used to be there continuously for period of 3-4 days. Now it is 100 mm to 200 mm rains within 3-4 hours2) Cloud Burst This phenomenon was happening very rarely earlier and but now it is happening regularly.3) Time frame of Monsoon Earlier monsoon used to be from June to September. Nowadays it gets extended beyond September. This year also Monsoon is expected to continue till 15th October and beyond.4) Quantum of Monsoon There has been cases wherein rains were 5 times normal rains which that area has witnessed in past. In some areas in month of June itself rain of entire season was experienced. Bihar received 370 mm rainfall within 48 hours.Even Dy Chief Minister was trapped in his house and had to be rescued.5) Exceeding of earlier bench marks We are maintaining record of highest level recorded by any river and small streams. When construction of bridges and railway lines is done it is beyond these levels. However in this years monsoon water has flown even beyond bridge level and beyond level of scale which was erected to measure water level. Rainfall in September this year was second highest in 102 years.The causes of heavy rainfall this year are following 1) Low pressure zone in Bay of Bengal 2) The weakening of El Nino in early July3) Large scale intra seasonal variability4) The positive phase of Indian Ocean Dipole( IOD )5) Global WarmingIt has been also observed that administration does few things which require retrospection.1) Aerial SurveyPoliticians make aerial survey of areas affected by floods. In today's age of Satellite images and Google maps this information is already available. What is idea of burning precious aviation fuel ? Taking journalists with you and filming yourself ? This is not helping flood victims at all.2) Announcing Compensation The need of hour is immediate relief. Restoration of normalcy. Reallocation of budget is administrative matter and one is not required to announce the same in front of camera3) Asking Centre for help.Central Government themselves are short of cash. They are taking money from RBI. How can they fund you ? There are floods all over country.4) Blaming adjacent state.Many times there is tussle that neighbouring state is not releasing water. In case of heavy rains all sluice gates are opened ( there is no alternative ) and downstream areas get flooded. In case of Karnataka their dam back water flooded Maharashtra. All these things require close timely exchange of information and just blame game does not help.5) Lack of Co-ordinationThe Government Departments who have information need to share the same with all concerned parties. Recently Central Railway train Mahalaxmi Express was trapped in floods near Badlapur. Passengers were trapped inside railway coach for 12 to 14 hours. The rise in danger mark of Ulhas river was known but not shared with railway authorities as otherwise train could have been stopped at station itself.6) Connect between authorities and people. Today connect between authorities and people for sharing quick information is very weak. IMD issues press release about warning and is dependent on press to reach it to Public. There is no system of siren etc. about impending trouble.Further it has been also predicted that certain portion of coastal cities is likely to be submerged under sea. India has track record of city of Dwarka getting submerged under sea water. It also made land mass next to submerged area useless for any cultivation. The cities which are likely to be submerged are Cochin, Chennai , Puri , Kolkata , Mumbai and Surat. Are we prepared to handle aftermath ?What are measures which we can take to handle monsoon fury ? Some of them are listed below,91) Volute Pumps Netherlands have cities which are below mean sea level. They have installed drainage system by which water is continuously pumped out.There are huge pumps in which casing is in concrete and impeller diameter up to 6 m. Millions of gallons are pumped out.2) Alert System At the moment there is no proper connect between Administration and people at large. Govt has access to IMD prediction ,satellite images etc. They should be in position to transfer this information to masses. However it is other way round and people are making distress calls through facebook ,twitter ,what'sApp etc.There should be siren,help lines etc. Some of Municipal Corporations are using twitter handle to communicate information.3) Google Maps Today there are google maps which are showing traffic congestion and estimated time to reach. Similarly information required about areas submerged and extent of flooding.4) Rescue MartialsTraining to be imparted to public at large to become rescue martials.They should be able to inflate boats ,erect ropes and rescue trapped people. Waiting for some authority to come from outside and rescue is time consuming. Rubber boats ,life jackets ,tubes should be stocked in schools, colleges ,govt.offices etc. under supervision of Rescue Martials.5) New Building PlansLow lying areas should not have buildings with houses on ground and first floor. Housing / Parking can start from 2nd floor and above.6) Elevated roads.New roads to be made as elevated bridges with exits at certain points. In case of floods people should be able to evacuate area quickly.7) Retaining walls on both sides of river.Whenever river is passing through city crowded area then concrete wall should be erected on either side. This has been done on Sabarmati River at Ahmedabad.The widening of river will also help in discharge of more water.8) Conserve Sweet WaterAt many places rivers are merging with sea. We can make small dam at the end so that sea water does not come in. This has been done at Singapore.9) Sabka Saath In case of calamity team work is important. NDRF, Police , Municipal Corporation,Railways,Airport Authority, Hospitals ,Fire Brigade and Residents need to work as teamPeople need to help themselves and also their neighbors and affected people in locality.Datt Udasdatt.udas63@gmail.com 

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