Kashmir’s flood legacy: 34 ‘significant’ floods in past 2 centuries
Srinagar, Sep 05: The Kashmir Valley has witnessed a staggering 34 ‘significant’ flood events over the past two centuries.
In a clear indication of the region’s chronic susceptibility to water-related calamities, official data reveals that 34 ‘significant’ floods have occurred in the Jhelum basin since 1800.
According to the data, available with the news agency—Kashmir News Observer (KNO), the recurrence rate of floods is approximately one every six years.
It reveals that floods of 1902, 1959 and 2024 were the most extreme flooding events in recent living memory.
The 2014 floods wreaked havoc in Kashmir Valley causing loss of human lives and massive damage to infrastructure.
The World Bank had put the estimate of losses due to 2014 floods in the then erstwhile state at Rs 21,000 crore—far below the state government’s “preliminary estimate” of losses worth Rs 1 lakh crore (Rs 1 trillion) due to the devastating deluge.
The state administration had described 2014 floods as a “disaster of international magnitude where losses to properties and businesses were in excess of Rs 100,000 crore (one trillion)”.
In the aftermath of devastating deluge, the Union Government had constituted a three-member panel—comprising the Chairman of the Central Water Commission, the Indus Commissioner, and the Director of the National Institute of Hydrology, Roorkee—to undertake an in-depth study and analysis’ of the unprecedented floods in J&K so as to make suitable recommendations along with a detailed action plan to deal with such threat in future.
The expert group submitted its report to the Ministry of Water Resources, River Development & Ganga Rejuvenation on October 31, 2014.
The group suggested that the bowl shape of the valley and very mild slope of Jhelum river makes the area between Sangam and Wular Lake susceptible to flooding in case of heavy rainfall.
“The low carrying capacity of the Jhelum river is due to very mild slope of the order of 1/10000 between Sangam and Wular Lake resulting in very low flow velocity in the river reach of about 96 KM,” the group said. “This slope also results in steep rise of river water level in case of high discharge in river.”
It suggested both short-term and long-term measures to avert floods in Kashmir.
The short-term measures recommended by the panel included raising and strengthening existing embankments, enhancing the carrying capacity of the existing Flood Spill Channel (FSC), dredging the Outfall Channel (OFC) to increase its capacity, setting up rapid-action dewatering facilities in urban areas, and establishing adequate emergency response systems and designated rescue zones.
The long-term measures recommended by the panel included constructing an additional supplementary Flood Spill Channel, creating water storage infrastructure, developing and enhancing the capacity of Wular Lake, implementing floodplain zoning regulations, among other initiatives.
