KERALA FLOODS

KERALA FLOODS
INTRODUCTION
Kerala State has an average annual precipitation of about
3000 mm.
The rainfall in this state is controlled by the South- west
and North-east monsoons.
The high intensity storms prevailing during the monsoons
months result in heavy discharges in all the rivers.
Kerala received 2346.6 mm of rainfall from 1 June 2108
to 19 August 2018 in contrast to an expected 1649.5 mm
of rainfall. This rainfall was about 42% above the normal.
Month-wise rainfall for the period, as reported by IMD, are given in Table-1.

Departure from
Period Normal Rainfall Actual Rainfall normal
(mm) (mm) (%)
June, 2018 649.8 749.6 15
July, 2018 726.1 857.4 18
1-19, August,
2018 287.6 758.6 164
Total 1649.5 2346.6 42
Earlier floods in Kerala
In 1924 Kerala has witnessed heavy floods and caused
heavy losses to life, property and crops etc.
In 1961 Kerala has again witnessed heavy floods for 7 to
10 days
 The maximum daily intensities recorded at four districts
in 1961 are given in Table-2.
 S.NO DISTRICT RAINFALL(mm)
1 Calicut 234
 
2 Trivandrum 136
3 Cochin 189
4 Palakkad 109
Analysis of rainfall data
The data consists of rainfall records of 67 rain gauge
stations spread across the entire state covering both plain
and hilly regions.
On scrutiny of data it has been found that cumulative
rainfall received during 15-17, August 2018 was quite
significant, with more than 800 mm rainfall at Peermade
rain gauge station followed by more than 700mm at
Idukki.
The rain gauge stations used for the present study are
shown in Fig 1.
Reservoirs in Kerala
Kerala is having 57 large dams out of which 4 dams are
operated by Government of Tamil Nadu.
Out of the above, only 7 reservoirs are having a live
storage capacity of more than 0.20 BCM.
Sl.No. Live Storage Capacity
Name of Reservoir (MCM)
1. Idukki 1460
2. Idamalayar 1018
3. Kallada 488
4. Kakki 447
5. Parambikulam (for use of TN) 380
6. Mullaperiyar (for use of TN) 271
7. Malampuzha 227
Monitoring of floods:
Government of Kerala has monitored the flood situation by
using SAR.
The image shows a portion of Kerala
with flood analysis.
From this they have estimated that
29,426 hectares of land became flooded.
Strategy and Plan of Action of Kerala
Government
Vision
• Placing the climate change concerns at the forefront of
sustainable development and for maintaining the quality of life
of the people of the state.
Mission
Mainstream climate change strategies into state Level
Planning and Development Process.
Address state specific priority issues with respect of NAPCC.
Safeguard natural resource of the state from climate change
impacts.
Address the existing as well as future climate change impacts
and reduce the associated risk of the state
Strategy:
Sustainable Management Activities.
Promote Research and Development Activities.
Policy Reforms.
Capacity Building and Strengthening.
Risk prevention and Mitigation activities:
The information related to floods, raising intensity etc,
were disseminated to government authorities and public
time to time.
News papers and television channels were served very
well to generate awareness and alert of the situation.
Teams of government official were moved very fast to
identify and evacuate people in low laying and vulnerable
areas.
Special care has been taken to provide basic necessities
for women and children.
Community awareness and support:
Awareness level of the people in the state about natural
hazards is very less, especially in vulnerable locations.
When government officials visited vulnerable location
and requested people to evacuate from their areas, most
of the people were not supported.
But the flood intensity is raised continuously people
supported to government officials in evacuation.
Impact of Floods:
Loss of life
Loss of shelter
Damage to Environment
Damage to power supply
Damage to water supply
Failure of communication network
Damage to infrastructure
Disturbance to transportation
Damage to crops
Response activities by government
authorities:
Government of Kerala after analysing the situation they
found that 23 million people have been affected through
floods.
Government has started operation to save the people.
For the rescue and relief operations Central government
has sent 40 helicopters, 31 air craft, 182 teams,18
medical teams,58 NDRF teams for rescue.
Relief Operations:
The government of Kerala started a donation website for
flood victims. From this they have collected 1206.7
crores.
Unconditional cash of Rs.3800 was given to the people
when they go back home from camps.
Rs 20 lakhs for purchase of land and house construction
who lost their land and house due to landslide.
Rs 10 lakhs for life lost and house construction.
Housing projects for Flood victims by NGO’s:

Name of Organization Number of Houses

Act on 300
Peoples Foundation 500
Muslim Jamath 1000
Joy Alukkas 250
Muthoot Group 200
Co Operative department 1500
Total 3750
Issues and recommendation
There us a concern when will people return their place,
there is no clear idea about the effected people.
Government declare the financial support but when they
will get that is big challenge from them.
There is need to Hygiene kit especially sanitary pad is
needed as many women were present in the camps.
Sectorial wise emerging needs:
1) Food Security and Livelihoods:
• Providing food items is not only for the people
sheltered in relief camps but also for those who will be
returning to their homes once the water level reduces.
• There is severe shortage of cattle fodder. Most of the
grazing lands were affected as submerged with flood
water.
• Most of the ponds were flooded and fish lost.
2) Water sanitation and Hygiene:
• Some wells are damaged and get contaminated. Initially
people are managing from stream water.
• In the camps people are getting safe drinking water.
• Families are in camps where sanitation and toilets facilities
ate available separate for male and female.
3) Protection:
• Men, women, adolescent girls, children are living together
inside the camps. There is separate staying arrangement
for male and female.
• Women and adolescent girls are managing well their
personal hygiene and there is no problem about their
protection.
4) Education:
• Children have lost their education materials. So there is
need of providing study materials including uniforms.
• Government has taken the responsibility to issue
certificates of the students who lost their documents.
Recommendations:
The following are the recommendations given by High court
to the government of Kerala.
a) Publicity: State government should give adequate
publicity to the steps adopted by it in connection with
relief, rehabilitation and reconstruction. The exercise will
also help citizens point out those areas, if any that are not
being sufficiently addressed by the state government.
b) Zoning: The state government could consider mapping the
areas within each of the districts in the state, based on
the extent of inundation suffered during the floods.
c) Environment: The state government has to evolve a
clear plan to deal with environment issues that could
arise in the course of relief and rehabilitation measures.
Such issues would include waste disposal at the relief
camps, waste disposal and sludge removal from roads
and canals, cleaning operations involving removal of
debris etc. Such plans have to be then implemented,
simultaneous with the relief and rehabilitation
measures.
Conclusion:
When an expert like Gadgil, after thorough studies, calls
“Kerala floods 2018” a man made disaster, shouldn’t we
launch a probe into the floods? We are left with two
options now: Either go to the root causes, fix it properly,
make necessary precaution based on comparative studies
and technology; or jail the post flood rhetoric!