Overburdened drainage, frenzied and unregulated construction, no regard to the natural topography and hydro-geomorphology all make urban floods a man-made disaster
The recent floods in Bihar and Eastern Uttar Pradesh have taken by surprise both governments and people.
In Patna, severe water logging has brought the city to a halt, with hospitals and residential areas filled with waist-deep water. Transport services have been disrupted, with many trains cancelled.
There is no electricity in most areas. The state capital also lacks food and drinking water.
While the untimely heavy rains can be attributed to a delayed retreat of the monsoon, as a part of climate variability; the massive urban flooding is largely an unplanned urbanisation problem.
The term urban flood is a misnomer. The problem of flooding in urban areas is not only due to overflowing rivers, but the uninformed way in which our cities are coping with urbanisation also plays a large role.
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