A case study on Kerala Floods

Flood is among the deadliest disasters in India. The frequency of floods and extreme precipitation events is projected to increase under the warming climate. The frequency of floods in India varies geographically as some regions are more prone to floods than the others.

In Kerala, floods occurred in the year 1923, 1924, 1961, 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2021. In these, the flood in the year 2018 was the most highly devastating floods, despite the Kerala State Disaster Management Authority framing a Disaster Management Plan, in 2016.Dam failure is the main cause for 2018 flood. This flood caused enormous economic damage, affected millions of people, and resulted in the death of more than 400 people. The other causes for this flood may be due to poor land use/ land cover change, antecedent hydrologic conditions, reservoir storage and operations, encroachment of flood plains, and other natural factors. However, the Flood management played an important role in Kerala 2018 floods. The Disaster Management strategies include Mitigation, Preparedness, Rescue and Recovery.

Through this study, we would like to suggest that the Sponge Cities and Flood Resistant Buildings are the most appropriate Risk reducing Strategies, which can reduce Flood hazard risk in areas like Kerala.