Essay on Flood

What it is

In the rainy season rivers and canals are full to the brim. Sometimes water rises so high that it
overflows the banks. Fields, and sometimes houses, lie under water. This great rise of water is
called a flood.

Causes of the flood

The flood is caused in many ways. Sometimes rain falls heavily for days together. The rain water
of mountains flows down the river. Sometimes the river cannot hold so much water. Then the
water flows down the river and floods the adjacent lands. Sometimes snow melts in mountains.
The water flows down the river and floods the country. A flood is also caused by the breaking of
the embankment of a river. The water of the river rushes through the breach and floods a vast
tract of land. Recently Government has made many dams to store the surplus water of some
rivers. This helps to prevent flood. But these dams sometimes become full to the brim. It is then
necessary to allow the stored-up water to flow out. As a result, a sudden rush of water overflows
the banks of rivers and canals and causes flood.

The scene of a flooded area and its effects

During a flood the water of the river rises very high. It sweeps away everything that comes in its
way. Crops are destroyed. Many houses are ruined. Many people are rendered homeless. Their
belongings are washed away. Many people and cattle are drowned. The sufferings of the people
know no bounds. Railway lines remain under water, and sometimes, these are also washed away.
The Whole area under a flood presents a very horrible sight. The miseries of the people cannot
be fully described. Famine and epidemic diseases break out as the after-effects of a flood.

Measures to help the sufferers

People try their utmost to help the flood-Btricken people. They start relief committees. Money,
food, medicine and cloth are collected. Volunteers are sent to the Hooded area to help the people.
Food, cloth and money are distribued to them. Medicine also is distributed free to them. The
Government also grants them help. It grants peasants loans of seeds and money and provide
people with work.

Some notable floods

Floods are common to all countries. Floods occur every year in some parts of India. In Bengal,
there was a terrible flood in 1913. It is known as the Damodar flood. Large areas of land in the
districts of Burdwan, Hooghly and Midnapur were flooded. The North Bengal flood of 1922 also
caused a great loss of life and property. A terrible flood visited North Bengal and East Bengal in
1931. In 1934 a terrible flood caused a great loss to the people of Assam. Their condition became
extremely miserable. The people of other parts of India came forward to help the sufferers. In
recent years, terrible floods have caused great loss to Assam, North Bengal and Bihar. In
Southern India also there have been terrible foolds by the rise of water in the Cauvery and other
rivers. In 1987, a terrible flood affected Assam, North Bengal, North Bihar and eastern part of
Uttar Pradesh. It also caused great loss of lives and properties of men, crops and domestic
animals. It is an irony of fate that just during this time there had been an unprecedented drought
in other parts of India. Thus the Government of India had a very hard time to face the situation. It
had to help both the flood-stricken and drought-stricken people to mitigate their sufferings.

Preventive Measures

We cannot fully check the occurrence of the flood. We should try to dig a large number of
passages for water. We should see that water may flow away easily. Railway bridges should be
made in large numbers. Some of the river banks should be raised and embankments must be
made strong. Dams should be made to store the excess water of these rivers.

Conclusion

The flood is a great evil. But it has some good effects. It makes the soil fertile. It also washes
away all impurities of land. Still we never welcome a flood in a terrible form.
 A Flood Scene
India is a land of rivers. So floods are very common in this country. We hear of
floods every year. They are not new things. There are many causes of flood.
Sometimes the rainfall is heavy. Rivers cannot carry all the water. The water
overflows and spreads to long distances making flood. Sometimes dams are broken
causing flood.

The floods are common in India. They are a natural calamity. Floods are the curse
of God on earth. They occur on account. Of heavy rainfall. They occur almost in
every country, when the rains are heavy and continue for a long time. These floods
cause a huge loss of life and property.

I live near the Yamuna river in a small village. Forty families live there. Every year
during the rainy season our village is surrounded by Yamuna water. We have built
our houses on the rocky ground. It is much above the level of the surrounding earth.
Last year heavy rains caused flood. We had to vacate our village. We saw big sheet
of water all round. Boatgs were playing in the Yamuan. I saw with great horror many
houses surrounded by angry water. Ultimately we had to vacate our houses and
went to our farm where we were safe. The farm was situated at about fifteen
kilometers away from our village in the interior.

The effect of this flood in neighbouring villages was very great. It caused a great
loss of human life and property. Crops were damaged, tree were uprooted, houses
were washed away, cattle were drowned. Heavy loss of life and property took place
and epidemic broke out. The people were rendered homeless.

The Government officers had mad arrangement for a big camp. This was arranged
for those who left their hearths and homes. Food was freely supplied to them. To
save people from the possible attack of diseases all the precautions were taken. The
people in the camp were given medical aid. I remember that for two days we also
had to stay there. The conation of the people was very miserable. They had to stand
like beggars in queues for food. The poorest people were given good first and then
people like us had good in the last.

The floods in the river Yumuna caused great loss to the people of affected areas. It
spoiled the crops completely. Our village specially suffered a great loss. Nearly all
the mud houses wren washed away by the swift current of water. Hundreds of cattle
were drowned. When the water receded, the Government gave financial aid to the
farmers. The poor people got money to rebuild their mud houses and to purchase
some necessary things such as cloth, sugar and food. We also got some loan from
the Government for buying seeds and chemical fertilizers. Three hundred rupees
were given by way of financial aid to us. Now new attempts are being made to check
the floods. Government has started to construct embankment along the river banks.

We have no control on the causes of floods. We cannot check extensive rains.

Science has failed to conquer the heat of the sun. man is powerless in this respect.
We can only minimize human suffering and loss of property. To avoid the dagger of
the flood, big tanks and canals should be made. Big dams should be constructed to
prevent the water of the flooded rivers. People should be trained to serve in such
calamities. They should be taught swimming and rowing.
 Flood in My Village
It was the rainy season and for one whole week, the rain poured incessantly. The
water level in the river rose steadily until the water split over, flooding many low-
lying areas. My village was one of the areas affected and we had to move our
belongings to higher ground. There, we waited for rescue teams to arrive. The whole
village was submerged in about one meter of water. The currents were swift and
merciless, sweeping away livestock and furniture. Red Crescent members could be
seen busy evacuating old folk, women and children trapped by the rising waters.
Flood victims were taken to a Flood Relief Centre. Here we were given hot drinks,
porridge and milk for the babies. Some had to be given clothes and blankets as they
could not save anything in time.

After three days, the rain subsided and the flood waters receded, it was such a relief
to see the sun again. Flood victims began to move back home, to clean up the place
as well as to assess the damage.
Flood appears as a curse to the people who are directly affected by it. There are mainly two
reasons that can create a flood: excessive rains and overflow of rivers. Rain is welcome for the
growth of crops and cooling down the atmosphere, especially after the hot summer.

But excessive rains spoil the harvest, and sometimes with the accumulated rain water, the tanks
are overflowed and fields and roads remain under water, and even water enters the courtyard or
drowns the ground floors of human habitations. As the stagnant water remains for a few days, the
people face numerous difficulties.

The insects, the serpents and many poisonous creatures take shelter in the human abodes, causing
threat to the lives of the dwellers. The cattle, unable to save their lives, die for want of food and
shelter.

The water becomes polluted, causing various life-taking diseases. People are sometimes found to
take shelter on the branches of trees, which are near at hand, in order to save themselves, when
their houses are submerged in water.

After the flood, it takes a long time for the wet land to get dried up. And in that marshy land, the
remains of the dead cattle or the skeletons of human corpses lay scattered, making the entire area
extremely polluted. That brings about plague, cholera and other dangerous diseases to those who
somehow survive. Thus the flood is a horror, and its aftereffects are more horrible.

After the flood, there is hardly anything left for the people to accept. The crops do not grow,
because the land becomes barren. The water of the tanks and wells gets polluted. The scarcity of
drinking water becomes an acute problem.

The cattle having died, the poor householders become helpless. Numerous huts of the poor
people are demolished by constant water-stagnation, making them homeless. Food grains
become rare in the flood-affected areas.

There are many other problems that a flood brings to the unfortunate people, in whose area flood
enters. Although the government and the charitable organizations send their instant relief by boat
or helicopter,- food, clothes, powdered milk, medicine etc. -, yet that is not enough for removing
their endless distress that continues for a long time after the flood.

The Indian governments have since taken some major steps for protecting the people from flood.
There are certain areas, especially in Bengal and Assam, where frequent floods appear due to the
overflow of the rivers, such as the Brahmaputra or the Ganga. A special commission has been set
up to take precautionary measures before the monsoons so as to prevent flood in those particular
areas.

At the time of flood in any area, all the civilized citizens should come forward with their helping
hand. If they themselves cannot reach the spot, they can at least send their relief articles or
money through some reliable organisations or the government machinery engaged in the relief
work.
Jakarta hit by floods due to heavy overnight
rain
JAKARTA - Heavy overnight rain flooded thousands of homes and roads in Jakarta, with some
areas inundated with water as high as 1.5m on Tuesday (Feb 21) morning.

The high water levels forced many workers to stay home, with some schools temporarily closed
for safety reasons.

"The floods hit the city after the drainage system was not able to accommodate what was a very
large inflow of water," said Dr Sutopo Purwo Nugrowo, spokesman for Indonesia's disaster
management agency (BNPB).

As of Tuesday morning, the BNPB has received more than 400 reports of flood incidents from
residents in Jakarta and the areas on the suburbs, seeking assistance which includes deployment
of rubber boats and evacuation tents.

There are at least 54 "main flooded spots", mostly in the eastern and northern parts, said Dr
Sutopo.

However, some areas like Kampung Pulo in the eastern part of the city, which usually suffers the
worst of floods when it rains heavily, fared better. This is because the municipal government
conducted major dredging work in the nearby Ciliwung River and relocated illegal squatters on
the river banks to subsidised flats.

The issue of flooding has always been heavily politicised, and news of flooding in the city will
affect the re-election of Jakarta governor Basuki Tjahaja Purnama, who had campaigned hard on
his plans to resolve the problem for residents living in flood-prone areas.

A key plank of his solution, which is to resettle squatters along riverbanks as he embarks on a
river normalisation exercise, has been attacked by his opponent Anies Baswedan in the run-off to
the election in April.

Mr Anies, who was education minister until he was dropped during a Cabinet reshuffle last year,
said the floods were a result of an ineffective mitigation plan by the current Jakarta
administration.

"This must be immediately addressed... if the plan is not going well, the normalisation plan won't
be effective" he said in a Tempo news report on Tuesday, which was accompanied by a photo of
Mr Anies in waist-high water talking with residents during his visit to Cipinang Melayu in East
Jakarta on Monday.

But Mr Basuki, who is standing trial for insulting Islam while running for re-election, has stood
by his track record of dealing with flooding in the city. He said when he came into office as
deputy to then Jakarta governor Joko Widodo in 2012, there were 2,200 flood-prone areas in the
city. "Last year, the number fell to 400," he said on Monday.

He also explained that the flooding in East Jakarta was mainly due to a delay in the river
normalisation project, which is now 40 per cent completed, reported The Jakarta Post on
Tuesday. "Nonetheless, we have already seen a good deal of improvement."

akarta, a coastal city, is crisscrossed by as many as 13 rivers and these often burst their banks
during the monsoon season, causing massive flooding in densely populated communities.

Experts have noted that most of the North Jakarta district, including the massive seawall
designed to protect it, is sinking at an estimated 25cm a year. Ground subsidence and high sea
tides which push waters back into the city when it rains heavily have caused Jakarta to see
annual floods, with the peaks often being in February.

In the Jakarta Great Flood of February 2007, more than two-thirds of the capital were under
water after it rained non-stop for three days. Waters rose as high as 7m in some areas.

A special report in The Guardian last year said that Jakarta is sinking because of subsidence. The
city does not pipe in enough drinkable water and so residents rely largely on wells that extract
water from shallow aquifers, which causes the land above it to collapse.
Heavy Rain Threats Jakarta Flood-prone Area
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TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Rain has showered all over Jakarta since early morning on Tuesday,
February 21, 2017. The Meteorology, Climatology, and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) had
predicted that rain with lightning occurred in Jakarta, Bogor, Depok, Tangerang, and Bekasi
(Jabodetabek).

Deputy of BMKG`s Meteorologist Yunus S. Swarinoto said the rain is potential to occur until the
next few days. This phenomenon is caused due to the relatively hight temperature above the
water surface in the Indian Ocean that supports the increase of cumulonimbus cloud (storm
cloud) in West Java and Sumatra.

"We urge the people to be aware of the increased rain intensity along with strong wind which is
potential to flood, landslide, flash flood, or flood puddle," he said in a written statement Tuesday,
Feb. 21, 2017.

Meanwhile, based on Tempos observation on TMC Polda Metro twitter account, floods with
various height are covering a number of area in Jakarta, including at Jalan Medan Merdeka
Timur. The floods inundated the area in front of the Marine and Fisheries Affairs Ministry office,
Gambir railway station, and Transportation Ministry.

"70cm flood at Petogogan, Kebayoran Baru, South Jakarta @Wijaya_BlokM," tweeted

@TMCPoldaMetro account at 06.40 Western Indonesia Time.

"At 06:25, 15cm flood occurred at Jl. KH. Abdullah Syafei toward SMP 115, @bhasty70."

"At 06:32, 30cm of water floods Kebon Nanas intersection (east Jkt samsat). The traffic is
rerouted to Transjakarta lane @RrAgnessia."

"At 06:59, 20-30cm flood occurred in front of Trisakti, Grogol."

The floods have caused traffic densities in a number of locations, include Jalan DI Panjaitan, in
front of Patria Park towards Cempaka Putih, in front of UKI Cawang towards BNN, as well as
the road in front of Wika Tl, old Halim which was closed towards the south, according to
@TMCPoldaMetro twitter account.