Neglecting the desilting of rivers, covering the drains, constructions on the river beds, blocking the water passages, ignoring the rainwater harvesting, covering the land with tiles, vanishing forests, and keeping the drainage capacity low are few of the factors responsible for the floods in city areas.

The excessive rains and the resulting tragedies are appalling. Monsoon, cyclonic circulation, and western disturbance prepared such a cocktail that Delhi got heavily waterlogged, boats floated in settlements near Chandigarh. Roads were submerged in water up to the waist and urban people with modern facilities started facing the worst kind of tragedy. The occupants of the high-rise buildings may have kissed the high-altitude air, but their cars below were submerged in water and they had to wait for rescue boats to get out at a safer place. The rains may have stopped, but the tragedy of floods continues. The condition of the national capital is worst, where Yamuna water has reached ITO and Red Fort. Schools, offices, and markets all had to be closed and the people in submerged areas are forced to live without drinking water. Water from heavy rains in Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, and Uttarakhand gets collected in Hathnikund Barrage in Haryana. As soon as the gates of the barrage were opened, this water reached the Yamuna and made Delhi’s condition miserable.

It is said that the same condition prevailed in Delhi 45 years ago. The people of Himachal too have never witnessed such horrific rains, in which bridges in Mandi town were washed away and Kullu-Manali roads disappeared from the map. In Manali, a large hotel building was completely razed to the ground. Almost all the villages and cities are in the same condition in the country. The condition of flood and destruction is being seen everywhere. Nature is showing its fierce form. First at the time of Covid and now on the pretext of rain, nature is giving a message and warning to mankind that change your ways or else the result will be bad. But homo sapiens aren’t listening. Men are increasing their population and destroying animals. The children of the new generation will never know that the creatures like frogs and sparrows used to exist somewhere. Along with the trees, the species of animals are also getting vanished. Creatures are reaching the plate of man. Mountains of concrete are being built everywhere and the real mountains are struggling to survive.

Prof Raghu Murtugudde of IIT Bombay says that the fearful season of 2023 is unique. El Niño has raised temperatures around the world, and wildfires have consumed three times as many areas, resulting in three times as much carbon dissolved in the atmosphere. Meteorologists say that due to global warming, drastic changes are being seen in the weather and now this is the new normal. An expert from Skymat Weather said that the rapid increase in the temperature over both land and sea surfaces has increased the capacity of the air to hold moisture for longer. If we talk about floods, there is no desilting of rivers, construction of buildings on the river banks is on the rise, rainwater harvesting is ignored, the land is being covered with concrete and tiles, and trees and forests are removed. All these factors are responsible for the floods in the cities.

The writer is a senior journalist and columnist. View are personal.

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