Residential colonies in flood channels a recipe for disaster
Srinagar, Aug 31: A day of rainfall these days puts Srinagar on flood alert.
The official reason is now on record—large residential colonies in the city have come up on what were once natural flood channels.
As the water levels in Jhelum and its tributaries rise, it is anybody’s guess what path it will take.
The Climate Resilient City Action Plan of Srinagar has laid bare what people in Kashmir have always known but authorities have failed to act upon: weakly regulated urbanisation has turned the city into a flood trap.
Take Khushal Sar along Eidgah as an example.
A few years ago, it was a water body.
Today, it is home to residential colonies, commercial complexes, and other constructions.
The story repeats itself across Srinagar, where natural drains and flood basins have been reclaimed for housing and business.
The report notes: “The hazard characteristics of that region highly influence natural vulnerability. Nundresh Colony (17), Bemina West (22), Buchpora (53), and Palapora (62) have a high natural vulnerability index. These wards have flooding exposure in this area of about 15.3 sq km (41 percent of the total flood extent) and have flood depth ranges > 2 m, causing more waterlogging incidences in these wards. Nundresh Colony has been built on flood channels. Bemina ward was previously a flood basin that was converted into a residential area, which caused the natural drainage to stop, resulting in floods every year; hence, adaptive capacity is less in these wards.”
The Action Plan further warns that central Srinagar’s business and tourist hubs, including Lal Chowk, Karan Nagar, Chattabal, Bemina, Dalgate, Sonwar, Indira Nagar, and Shivpora, are also exposed to inundation.
Built over or near flood channels along the Jhelum and Dal Lake, these areas face repeated waterlogging that disrupts daily life, business, and tourism.
According to the report, Srinagar is prone to flooding due to the combined effect of torrential rainfall and weakly regulated urbanisation.
The flood modelling shows that in a 1-in-100-year return period scenario, nearly 74.05 square kilometres, or 30.18 per cent of municipal areas, are likely to be inundated with water depth ranging from 0.66 metres to 2.15 metres.
Low-lying localities such as Sharifabad, Zainakote, Goripora, Tengpora, Shalteng, and Lawaypora, spread across wards 62 to 64, are identified as some of the most vulnerable.
Even light rainfall submerges these neighbourhoods, forcing residents to either relocate or rent out property to escape the repeated losses.
These areas alone make up 15 percent of Srinagar’s flood-affected zone.
Neighbourhoods on the southeastern periphery, such as Zonimar, Shunglipora, Zadibal, Noorbagh, Parimpora, Wazir Bagh, and Rajbagh, are also on high alert every monsoon.
The report states these wards contribute 9.2 percent of the total flood-vulnerable area and were among the hardest hit during the 2014 floods, where water remained stagnant in houses and establishments for over a month.
In the north, Zakura, Gulab Bagh, Tailbal, Umer Colony, Soura, Anchar, and Bagwanpora, covering wards 47 to 58, make up another 14.2 percent of flood-prone land, with ward 57 recording the deepest water levels.
The report concludes that Srinagar’s flood vulnerability is largely man-made, arising from construction on wetlands, drains, and flood basins.
It recommends urgent measures, including halting further encroachments, restoring degraded waterbodies, zoning based on vulnerability mapping, and strengthening disaster preparedness.
Experts warn that unless the Action Plan’s recommendations are enforced, Srinagar will continue to reel under even moderate spells of rain and could face another catastrophe on the scale of 2014.
