Flood disaster

normal floods are expected and generally welcome in the many parts of the world as they provide rich
soil, water and a means of transport but flooding of an unexpected scale [damaging flood] and with
excessive frequently cause damage to life ,livelihood and the environment. Over the the past decade,
the pattern of floods across all continents has been changing, becoming more frequent, intense and
unpredictable for local communities, particularly an issue of development and poverty have led more
people to live in areas vulnerable to flooding. Flooding is increasing in urban areas due to impervious

River flood is high level of water that overtops banks natural or artificial-of a river but such an event is
not hazard unless it threatens human life and property.

According to to hydrological model of floods [ other models being-hydraulic and ecological] floods can
be explained as"water in the the wrong place', or at the wrong time"[Hewitt, 1977]. Alexander [1993]
defines flood as a "the height, or storage, of water above some given point..." The shortcoming to this
model however is the fact that it only considers Riverine-type flooding as in evident in
[Alexander,2000b] definition of a flood: "discharge that causes damage or or word of the river bank or
exceeds a specified value". This shortcoming is particularly noticed in the context of urban flood risk.

Conceptual issues.

Flood by general understanding is vigorous dynamic phenomena where discharge is more than water
carrying capacity of river resulting in overtopping of banks and inundation/submergence of
areas/floodplain which are otherwise dry.

In urban flood any part of city can badly get affected and more significantly low-lying areas river basin
flood is a result of high discharge while urban floods are due to stagnation.

The "sponge effect" of trees, grass and crops whereby the land absorbs rainfall and then it release it's
slowly over a long period of time has also been studied by [Rapp, et.al; 1972]. Rapp's monitoring of
surface runoff on gentle sloping in Tanzania found that no erosion occurred and almost all rainwater was
written under natural cover of grass and push with widely scattered trees where no grazing took place.
Is connection between floods and deforestation is confirmed by historical examples.

In 1797, French engineer concluded that lowland feeding by Alpine river what's the direct result of
'deforestation' in the mountains. Though, the review concentrated on temperate areas, in the tropics,
the relationship between deforested watershed and fierce flood is Much stronger.

Rains in the humid tropics tends to concentrate over a few months. Over 70% of Indians annual rainfall
comes during 100 days of the Southwest monsoon. The soil must cope with much more rain water
during rains that in the temperate zones.
Trend: Although the metrological, hydrological another natural physical factors that cause major floods
have not changed significantly. Globally vulnerability to flooding is one of the main cause of disaster.
Some result from global climate change [GCC] research suggest among other things that extreme floods
may become larger, that where blood may become more frequent and that there are likely to be more
cyclones and therefore more rain and floods

Is the present state of knowledge goes, little can we say that will certainly about climate induced change
in flooding.

Early warnings: weather forecasting early warnings the most part of the world can we reduce
information with longer lead time. They are useful for both contingency planning and defining
immediate actions in responding to flood. Early warnings has little relevance if people don't have the
ability to respond to warning in terms of taking and decisions on preventive actions and give evacuation.
(Satara, kolhapur)

Flood waters brings increased risk of diseases such as Cholera and dysentery, arising from sewage
spread and the contamination of drinking water. There maybe rapid growth in the incidence of malaria
and yellow fever because of multiplication in of insect vector in the stagnant water which may remain
lying about for months after a inundation in Bangladesh,India , Pakistan in 1980 [Sikander 1983]