Up to Our Necks: Contours and Consequences of Urban Flooding
Scharada Dubey
Indian author of children's books and Creative non-fiction
Key Highlights
- Urban flooding has become much more common across the world in the last two decades due to the effects of climate change.
- Management of the problem has to begin with the drainage systems of our cities, and how equipped such systems are to deal with the intensity and increased volume of rainfall.
- Challenges to effective management of drainage systems come from encroachment of wetlands, citizens’ apathy around garbage disposal, construction practices in the real estate industry, and laxity and corruption in urban administration.
- Technology for stormwater management must include mapping and zoning based on GIS-based satellite imagery, capacity planning of drainage systems with reference to the IDF rainfall curve, and plotting lakes and wetlands into primary, secondary, and tertiary channels of urban water conveyance.
- Valuable lessons for urban planners can be taken from the Sponge City principles that have been developed in China for the absorption and reuse of rainwater in cities like Shanghai.
How should increasingly frequent instances of urban flooding shape our approach to development?
Can the lessons learnt from the flooding of our cities be our first defence against climate change?
Any average urban Indian in 2025 does not need the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reports, the Lancet Countdown, or the WMO State of Climate Services report to tell them about increasing instances of urban flooding. Every year, we have more widespread, visible and critical episodes of urban flooding that cripple infrastructure and cause great harm to homes and workspaces. The lives of thousands of people are affected, in addition to the deaths and casualties reported from flood-related accidents.
Of course, it is not as if urban flooding is only a few decades old. As a person whose childhood in the 1970s and 80s in Mumbai was gifted with at least one or two “rain holidays” in July, I was still struck by the impact of the flooding on 26th July, 2005, when high tide in the Arabian sea, and 944mm of rainfall left thousands of people marooned miles away from their homes. On that day, cars were floating on roads, and flyovers had become parking lots for cars, with people huddled in them, sheltering from the swirling waters below.
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Scharada Dubey
Indian author of children's books and Creative non-fiction
Scharada Dubey is an author of narrative non-fiction and children’s books. ‘Portraits from Ayodhya: Living India’s Contradictions’ (2010) and ‘M for Minority: Muslims in #NewIndia’ (2020) are among the books she has written on contemporary India. She also works on writing partner projects, and connects with listeners through her show ‘Yes, Aunty! The Scharada Dubey Podcast’. Scharada lives and works in Bangalore.