Staying afloat: Lessons from flood-prone cities

Mitigation of and adaptation to weather extremes are a tall order for administrations at the local level because of unpredictability of climate variability, and their own constraints. Despite challenges, some cities are working to reduce vulnerability to these changes.

- Soumya Chatterjee

Every time a major metropolis gets flooded the way Chennai did in early December, questions are raised about the inadequacy of the government’s response or preparedness. There is consensus that Indian cities have grown rapidly and unplanned, swallowing floodplains, green spaces, and water bodies alike. This is coupled with the encroachment of stormwater drains or lack of adequate drainage — one reason for recurrent floods. Like the cause, the remedy, in the form of removing encroachments and blockages, building new drainage networks, and creating new blue and green spaces to decrease rainwater run-off, however inconvenient and cost-intensive, is also well understood.

But as the frequency of extreme weather events increases, cities are failing to catch up. Climate resilience experts suggest that while mitigation and adaptation efforts need to be sustained for longer periods, cities must simultaneously respond swiftly once a disaster hits. “No city can be practically climate-proof overnight. There’s a need to develop a swift response mechanism including early warning system based on weather predictions and readily available data and technology,” said Victor Rana Shinde, who leads the Climate Centre for Cities at the National Institute of Urban Affairs (NIUA), under the ministry of housing and urban affairs.