Floods in India: Is it weather or maladaptation to climate change?

The occurrence probability of rainfall intensity, duration and frequency are going to increase in the future in all emission scenarios developed by the International Panel for Climate Change. Thus, the high intensity and longer duration of rainfall is the likely hydrological future of India. Apart from weather extremes; unplanned development, encroachments in riparian zones, failure of flood control structures, unplanned reservoir operations, poor drainage infrastructure, land use change and sedimentation in river beds are exacerbating floods. The high losses and damages due to floods show the poor adaptation and mitigation status of India and inadequacy in disaster management and preparedness. The situation is such that many river basins do not have enough gauging stations for measurement of flood level, which is the principal component for flood prediction and forecast.