When havoc descended upon Chennai
Down To Earth journalist Rajeshwari Ganesan writes about the uncertainty of knowing if your loved ones are safe, even as Chennai's flood worsens
Relentless rains wreak havoc in South Asia
Flash floods have left a desolate trail from Punjab to Bangladesh and the toll has been especially severe in Nepal, where raging torrents have …
Dyke disaster
After 50 complacent years, Europe's state-of-the-art dyke system is softened for the kill by raging riverine floods
Half truths
LARGE DAMS: LEARNING FROM THE PAST, LOOKING AT THE FUTURE, WORKSHOP PROCEEDINGS·Edited by Tony Dorcer·International Union for …
Parched lands
The frequency of droughts has made even traditionally water-rich regions fall under the spectre of death
Spurring people into action
Villagers of Bhuragaon in Assam no longer depend on the government for protecting their lands from the currents of the Brahmaputra. They have, …
Why are monsoons difficult to predict? (Part-II)
B N Goswami, Director of Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology explains why rains in the tropics are difficult to predict.
Why are monsoons difficult to predict? (Part-I)
North India Deluge 2023: A water plan addressing urban floods can pull Chandigarh out of troubled waters
Rainwater harvesting structures along the stormwater drains will enable the use of rainwater endowment along with preventing floods
Pakistan floods: What role did climate change play?
Officials from the Pakistan Meteorological Department blamed climate change
Weekend cloudburst reiterates need to beef up early warning systems; is Uttarakhand on track
There have been positive and negative developments in Uttarakhand since 2013 as far as early warning systems are concerned; the key is to …
Raised shelters, changing crop patterns: How Assam is adapting to frequent floods
Assamese villagers are adopting climate-proofing or flood-resilient mechanisms to cope with floods better
Chennai may break its own record for November rainfall
Lack of climate-resilient infrastructure and encroachment of water bodies has proved costly as floods ravage Chennai
New dams to burden Uttarakhand, heighten disaster risk
Districts worst hit by the floods are also the ones with maximum hydropower projects in the pipeline
Where have we gone wrong?
With every monsoon, the extent of floods in the country and its ensuing misery increases. Is this suffering largely self-inflicted?
After catastrophic drought for 6 years, flash floods in Somalia displace 200,000
The situation in Somalia is not an isolated incident, rather it is happening in other parts of Africa as well
How floods in Assam link to child trafficking
Flood is one such phenomenon that exacerbates poverty and potentially causes situations of conflict and instability
Erratic, incessant rainfall brings floods to many states in India
Heavy monsoon rainfall intensified by depression is the main reason behind the natural disaster
Unusually long La Niña displaced record number of people in 2022
In India, disasters were mostly weather-related and displaced 2.5 million people in 2022, according to the Global Report on Internal Displacement
Andhra Floods: Farmers on month-long march, demand compensation for crops
Recent floods in Andhra Pradesh a sign of climate change effects visible since 2012, say experts
Déjà vu: Will Chennai see a repeat of 2015 deluge?
Chennai received 215 mm rainfall November 7, the second-highest 24-hour rainfall during the decade
Not one dam in Kerala was inspected before monsoon, reveals RTI
The state received 42% above normal rainfall but the Central Water Commission didn’t have any information of the criticality of dams
Making sense of erratic monsoon, sporadic flooding
Although the average rainfall has reduced over the last 60 years, the day to day variability in rainfall during monsoon months has increased
Bangladesh ravaged by floods
Even as annual monsoon floods devastate Bangladesh, a plan formulated by the World Bank to prevent flooding is bogged down in controversy
Chain effect
Environmental degradation causes a plethora of problems. Mismanagement and destruction of natural resources leave people even more vulnerable