India’s Rivers Breaching High Flood Levels in SW Monsoon 2022

October 7, 2022October 25, 2022 SANDRPLeave a comment

(Feature Image: Hydrograph of River Godavari in extreme flood situation at Kaleswaram level forecast station in Bhupalpally district, Telangana on July 15, 2022. Source: CWC)

Highest Flood Level (HFL) breach incidents are important indicator of flood cycle and could also help in understanding the changing rainfall pattern. Though, with 925 mm rainfall [i], the south west monsoon season 2022 falls in normal category, its distribution both temporally and spatially has seen huge variations. This is also reflected by at least 57 HFL breach incidents in 8 river basin across the country during the SW Monsoon months of July-Sept 2022.

For past four years, SANDRP has been tracking the HFL breach incidents during pre-monsoon and monsoon months. The analysis of such HFL breaches in 2018 [ii], 2019 [iii] and 2020 [iv], May-Sept 2021 [v], Oct.-Nov 2021 [vi] can be seen on our website. The pre-monsoon months of May and June 2022 [vii] have also seen 5 HFL breach incidents. This report tracks the other HFL breach incidents taking place between July and September months.

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CWC - Central Water Commission

2022: Overview of CWC Flood Monitoring Sites in West India

October 2, 2022 SANDRPLeave a comment

(Feature Image: Bar chart showing CWC flood monitoring sites excluding UTs of Dadar & Nagar Haveli and Daman & Diu in West India in 2022)

Since 2018, SANDRP has been presenting detailed overviews on flood monitoring sites [i] of Central Water Commission (CWC) which is the only agency doing flood forecast work in India. This year, we have published and highlighted the inaccuracies in CWC’s flood monitoring sites in North [ii], North East [iii] and East [iv] zones. This fourth overview covers the West zone for Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Maharashtra and Goa states. The previous overviews for the region can be seen here (2018 [v]) and here (2019 [vi]).

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CWC - Central Water Commission

2022: CWC Flood Monitoring Sites in East India

September 12, 2022September 12, 2022 SANDRP1 Comment

Flood forecast and monitoring is essential part of Central Water Commission’s (CWC) work. Presently, the agency claims [I] issuing flood forecasts at 332 sites including 133 Inflow Forecast (IF) sites and 199 Level Forecast (LF) sites. Since 2018, SANDRP has been presenting critical analysis of CWC’s flood forecast website [II] in region wise manner.

In 2022 SW monsoon season, we have already published the overviews for North [III] and North East [IV] regions of the country. This third part in the series covers the states in East India including Bihar, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Odisha and West Bengal (Ganga Basin). Our previous overviews for the region can be seen here (2018 [V]) and here (2019 [VI]).

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CWC - Central Water Commission

2022: Overview of CWC’s Flood Monitoring Sites in North East India

August 6, 2022 SANDRPLeave a comment

During monsoon CWC (Central Water Commission) monitors water level at several hundred sites in the county and publishes this information on its Flood Forecast website [I]. The website has three ways to get this information: Data Flow Map, List Based Exploration, and Hydrograph view. The Hydrograph view provides information for past 72 hours, supposed to be updated every hour. This is in addition to the list of current forecasts listed on the website.

Since 2018, SANDRP has been analyzing CWC’s flood forecast website in zone wise manner. After examining status of flood forecast and monitoring sites in North Indian [II] states, this overview is for North East India region covering Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Meghalaya, Manipur, Nagaland, Tripura, Mizoram and Sikkim states. This also includes part of North West Bengal that is in Brahmaputra basin. Our 2018 and 2019 analysis on the North East region can be seen here [III] and here [IV]. .

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CWC - Central Water Commission · Dams

2022: CWC Flood Monitoring Sites in North India

August 5, 2022October 1, 2022 SANDRP1 Comment

(Feature image: Bar Chart showing number of Level Forecast/Monitoring, Inflow Forecast sites in North Indian States & UTs)

Continuing analysis of Central Water Commission’s flood forecast website, SANDRP presents the details of flood monitoring sites in North Indian states comprising Union Territories of Jammu & Kashmir, Ladakh, Chandigarh, Delhi and states of Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh. Before this, we have prepared similar critical reports and highlighted problematic issues in flood monitoring sites in North India in 2018, 2019 and 2020.

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CWC - Central Water Commission

Rivers crossing HFLs in Oct-Nov 2021

December 12, 2021December 12, 2021 SANDRPLeave a comment

Feature image probably shows flooded human habitation along Cheyyeru river after Annamayya project failure on Nov. 19. However, caption of image published in Deccan Herald report does not mention it.

India has been witnessing unusual monsoon rains in 2021. First the delay in South West Monsoon [i] withdrawal till third week of October 2021 brought heavy rainfalls in several states of North India in the first half of October 2021. Then the extreme rainfall spells during North East Monsoon [ii] have caused floods in several parts of south India in quick succession in November 2021.

In October 2021, the all India rainfall has been 33% above normal while November rainfall being record breaking 86% above normal. The formation and interactions between low depressions and western disturbances largely contributed in record breaking rainfall events during this period including the onset of La Nina phenomena.

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Dams

Rivers that crossed Highest Flood Level in Monsoon 2021

October 5, 2021October 6, 2021 SANDRPLeave a comment

(Feature image River Betwa in flood spate on Aug. 4, 2021. Source: Sharad Chandra, Director, CWC)

While India has received 874.6 mm rainfall which falls in normal [i] category in just concluded south west monsoon season, there have been at least 27 incidents of rivers crossing the Highest Flood Levels (HFLs) ever recorded in the past and attaining new HFLs in 5 river basins (some composite basins) in India, as recorded by the Central Water Commission (CWC) Flood Forecasting site [ii] during the monsoon.

The maximum 12 such instances have taken place in Ganga basin followed by 6 in west flowing rivers Tapi to Tadri basin, 5 in Godavari, 2 in West Flowing rivers Tadri to Kanyakumari basin and 1 each in Subernarekha and Tapi basin.

For past three years, SANDRP has been tracking the HFL breach incidents during monsoon season. The analysis of such HFL breaches in 2018 [iii], 2019 [iv] and 2020 [v] can be seen on our website.

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Dams

CWC Flood Forecasting: Anomalies between Website and SOP Document

October 2, 2018October 4, 2018 SANDRP3 Comments

Central Water Commission (CWC) is the only agency in India doing flood forecasting, it becomes very important to understand what CWC does in this regard. The CWC flood forecasting website[i] is the main media through which CWC provides the flood forecasting. CWC has also published on its website, the document giving Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for flood forecasting in 2018[ii]. The Home page of the CWC’s flood forecasting site says that CWC provides Level forecasting for 166 sites and Inflow forecasting for 60 sites. SOP document, however, gives these figures in Table 1, but in Table 2 (as also the full list given in Annexure 1.1 of SOP document), it gives state wise break up for 182 Level forecasting and 93 Inflow forecasting sites. So we can see anomalies in these two sources even about the number of forecasting sites.

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Dams · Floods

Overview of CWC Flood Monitoring Sites 2018: INDIA

September 18, 2018September 26, 2019 SANDRPLeave a comment

Central Water Commission is the only agency doing flood forecasting in India. As per CWC’s Flood Forecasting website[i] the Data Flow Map has information about 226 Flood Forecast Sites in the country comprising of 166 Level Forecast Sites and 60 Inflow Forecast Sites. It also monitors 700 Flood sites, information made available through List Based Exploration and Hydrograph View, but no flood forecasting is done for these sites.

In order to better understand the CWC’s flood monitoring and forecasting work, SANDRP has published report of CWC’s Level Forecast, Inflow Forecast and level monitoring sites in 5 zones of North India[ii], North East India[iii], East India[iv], South India[v] and West India[vi]. Through this report, we have presented all the data at one place with links to separate zone wise reports with detailed description.

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Dams · Floods

Overview of CWC Flood Forecasting Sites 2018: WEST INDIA

September 11, 2018September 26, 2019 SANDRPLeave a comment

Central Water Commission is the only agency doing flood forecasting in India. As per CWC’s Flood Forecasting website[i] the Data Flow Map has information about 226 Flood Forecast Sites in the country comprising of 166 Level Forecast Sites and 60 Inflow Forecast Sites. It also monitors 700 other sites, information is made available through List Based Exploration and Hydrograph View, but no flood forecasting is done for these sites.

In order to better understand the CWC’s flood monitoring and forecasting work, in this article, we have given an overview of CWC’s flood forecasting and monitoring sites in West India. It includes state wise list of CWC’s Level Forecasting, Inflow Forecasting and level monitoring sites in 5 States in West India. Similar report has been published for North India [ii] and North East India [iii] and East India[iv] and South India[v]. This is the last part in the series. Continue reading “Overview of CWC Flood Forecasting Sites 2018: WEST INDIA” →