NECESSITY OF FLOOD EARLY WARNING SYSTEMS IN INDIA

Abstract:

India is one of the highly flood prone countries in the world. National flood commission has reported that 400,000 km² of geographical area is prone to floods, constituting to twelve percent of the country’s geographical area. Despite the reoccurrences of floods, India still does not have a proper flood warning system. Probably this can be attributed to the lack of trained personnel in using advanced techniques. Frequent flood hazards results in damage to livelihood, infrastructure and public utilities. India has a potential to develop an early warning system since it is one of the few countries where satellite based inputs are regularly used for monitoring and mitigating floods. However, modeling of flood extent is difficult due to the complexity of hydraulic and hydrologic processes during flood events. It has been reported that numerical methods of simulations can be effectively used to simulate the processes correctly. Progress in computational resources, data collection and development of several numerical codes has enhanced the use of hydrodynamic modeling approaches to simulate the flood extent in the floodplains.

In this study an attempt is made to simulate the flood in one of the sub basins of Godavari River in India using hydrodynamic modeling techniques. The modeling environment includes MIKE software, which simulates the water depth at every grid cell of the study area. The runoff contribution from the catchment was calculated using Nebdor Afstromnings model. With the hydrodynamic modeling approach, accuracy in discharge and water level computations are improved compared to the conventional methods. The results of the study are proming to develop effective flood management plans in the basin. Similar studies could be taken up in other flood prone areas of the country for continuous modernisation of flood forecasting techniques, early warning systems and strengthening decision support systems, which will help the policy makers in developing management plans and policies.