Flood plains of India

Flood plains of India [1]

Additional image::

[1]

Mapping water woes While the Ganga river and the Brahmaputra river regions make for the areas most prone to floods, states like Orissa suffers from the wrath of river Mahanadi, when the degraded mangrove system makes the region more susceptible to damage

Flushed with water
Floods are not avoidable, but the damage they cause are. Only if the cause is understood and precautions taken
Much of the problem of floods is due to drainage congestion.

On occasions floods are caused by mismanagement of water reservoirs

Despite 157 flood forecasting stations in India, the country still loses hundreds of lives and crores worth of property.

Flood of misery
The average loss over the past four decades shows the havocfloods wreak
Items
Land area affected	7.56 million hectare
Population affected	32.03 million
Human lives lost	1,504
Livestock lost	96,713
Houses damaged	11,683
Houses damaged(cost)	Rs 136.615 crore
Crop damaged	Rs 460.07 crore
Public utilities damaged	Rs 377.248 crore
TOTAL LOSSES	Rs 982.126 crore

Publication Date:

Tuesday, October 30, 2001

Source: Down to Earth [2]

Vol:

Volume No:

Issue:

Issue No:

20011031

pp:

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