Flood-prone areas of India
Topic: Natural Hazards and Disaster Management in India · NCERT: Class 11, Ch 6 "Natural Hazards and Disasters: Causes, Consequences and Management"
Meaning
These are the parts of India that flood again and again. Assam, West Bengal and Bihar are the most flood-prone, along with eastern Uttar Pradesh. In these places big Himalayan rivers carry huge amounts of water and silt across flat plains. The northern rivers of Punjab and Uttar Pradesh flood from time to time. Rajasthan, Gujarat, Haryana and Punjab face flash floods. Tamil Nadu floods in November-January because of the retreating (northeast) monsoon. Floods in the east are riverine and last a long time, while floods in the west are sudden. In 1980, the Rashtriya Barh Ayog (National Flood Commission, set up in 1976) found about 40 million hectares of India flood-prone.
Example
Bihar floods almost every year when rivers coming down from the Himalayas in Nepal spill over the flat north Bihar plain.
Don't confuse with
- Drought-prone areas: these are mostly in the rain shadow and at the dry edge of the monsoon, such as western Rajasthan. They are not in the wet eastern river plains.