Recurring Floods Poor Urban Planning

by Dhurjati Mukherjee

Flooding is a significant issue, affecting not just riverbeds but major cities in India. The country receives 80 per cent of its annual rainfall during the monsoon season from June to September. Environmentalists are worried about frequent heavy rains in short periods. They attribute these extreme weather patterns to climate change and warming seas that carry more moisture, causing intense and unpredictable rainfall.

Urban flooding is rising due to multiple factors, partly climate change, and partly poor planning. While total rainfall hasn’t changed much over the decade, it’s now falling in fewer hours, making it harder for cities to cope. “Yes, climate change has intensified rainfall — but it’s also a planning failure. We need to rethink urban design. We can’t keep building the same way in Delhi, the Himalayas, and coastal areas. That approach must change,” observed an urban planner and architect.

“Many cities rely on outdated systems designed decades ago. And in the process of unchecked expansion, natural drainage channels, wetlands and water bodies that once absorbed excess rainwater have been built over or neglected,” he adds. Experts are of the opinion that there is no solution as each city faces unique challenges and factors such as geography, population and climate must be considered when designing effective responses.

According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the UN’s climate science body, India is projected to be one of the most vulnerable regions to escalating heat waves, humid heat stress, and other extreme weather events in a 1.5C warmer world — threats that could bring irreversible consequences. Added to this, is the occurrence of erratic rainfall and early monsoons that have been observed over many years. However, what has changed is the intensity and concentration of rainfall in short periods. Not just Mumbai but from Delhi in the north to Bengaluru in the south, India’s biggest cities flood every monsoon season. Roads collapse, drains overflow, infrastructure is overwhelmed and traffic grinds to a halt.

Experts blame rapid unplanned urbanisation, poor infrastructure and years of environmental neglect as the root cause of this problem. Delhi’s Minto bridge is flooded every year during the monsoon. The pace of urban expansion has far exceeded the evolution of supporting infrastructure, particularly in water and drainage systems, according to architects and urban planners. Even expanded areas of metros like Salt Lake in Kolkata are frequently submerged if there is heavy rain.Even a newly built underground metro station in Mumbai could not withstand the heavy downpour as photos and videos of the station flooded with muddy water went viral. The pre-monsoon deluge once again exposed the fragile infrastructure of India’s financial capital and sparked widespread outrage on social media.

Meanwhile, in Bengaluru, more than 2,000 kms from the capital, the problem looks different, but its root cause is the same. Once known for its network of lakes that helped manage excess rainwater, Bengaluru has seen many of these water bodies encroached upon. In their place now stand apartment complexes, business hubs and roads – leaving the city vulnerable to flooding. The city is made up of three major valleys through which water naturally flows but due to lack of proper sanitation and poor urban planning, inundation occurs. These valleys were originally designated as no-construction zones but over the years, encroachment has taken place and later changes in the law permitted infrastructure projects to be built in the area.

Not just the big cities, small towns often suffer equally, if not more. News reports suggested around 40 people died in the north-eastern states after heavy rains triggered flooding and landslides. Tens of thousands have been affected, with rescue efforts under way. Mapping and real-time sensors are needed to identify high-risk zones and alert communities. Predictive models can also help authorities plan better responses. But technology alone is not a fix, it needs to be paired with responsive governance and community involvement.

An important aspect of floods and even landslides is the violations of building norms, specially construction that narrows stormwater drains or builds directly over them, have only made things worse. Then there are examples of facing natural challenges due to geography, such as the case of Mumbai. Many parts of the financial capital are low-lying and close to the sea, which makes them more vulnerable to flooding during heavy rains and high tides.

It needs to be pointed out here that changes in monsoon patterns and rising temperatures could further reduce GDP by 2.8 percent by 2030, potentially lowering living standards for nearly half the population by 2050. Without effective mitigation policies, India could face annual GDP losses of 3-10 percent by 2100.

Disaster mitigation has emerged as a major issue and clear thinking on the matter calls for technical expertise and well-planned strategy. With the onset of monsoon, flooding becomes a critical disaster. Special drives should be initiated to mitigate rampant encroachment of stormwater drains. Residents often connect the rooftop drains to the sewage network due to a lack of local-level stormwater drains in the city. Serious efforts are needed to stop the rampant disposal of garbage, road dust and construction waste into storm drains.

Urban planners are of the view that most of the city’s drains are poorly designed as they are quite old and not capable of meeting the present needs. Their efficiency can be significantly enhanced by improving the slope, alignment and cross-sections. An important suggestion is that of rainwater harvesting in parks & open spaces which will act as sponges and reduce flooding.

Environmentalists and planners attribute human actions that have made things much worse: cutting down mangroves, which normally act like natural barriers against floods, and building on floodplains where water is supposed to drain. The breakdown is systemic – it begins with planning that often doesn’t account for future climate variabilities, gets exacerbated by poor execution and is compounded by weak enforcement of regulations. It must be admitted that political will is often reactive – responding to disasters rather than investing in long-term resilience.

States are not giving adequate attention to addressing floods in metropolitan areas and towns, which are highly congested regions where people experience significant issues due to waterlogging. Many states face financial constraints, making it difficult for them to implement various measures such as ensuring proper water flow through cleared drains, improving sanitation systems, dredging rivers, constructing embankments in villages, among others. These initiatives require substantial funding, and there is a need for the Central government to provide financial assistance to states that are frequently affected by floods and cyclones.—INFA

(Copyright, India News & Feature Alliance)
New Delhi
16 June 2025

 

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