Urban Flooding Case Study of Hyderabad
Urban Flooding Case Study of Hyderabad
Urban Flooding Case Study of Hyderabad
Abstract
Urban flooding is significantly different from rural flooding as urbanisation leads to developed catchments which
increases the flood peaks from 1.8 to 8 times and flood volumes by up to 6 times. Consequently, flooding occurs very
quickly due to faster flow times, sometimes in a matter of minutes. Urban areas are centers of economic activities with
vital infrastructure which needs to be protected 24x7.The basic philosophy of urban drainage systems, or "storm water
management", for re-directing water flow has been to seek maximum convenience at an individual site by the most rapid
possible elimination of excess surface water after a rainfall. In other words, "get that water out of here NOW" has been
the overlying philosophy of creating drainage systems in urban areas. A Holistic approach for storm water management
is necessary for its sustainability.
1.0 Introduction
Increasing trend of urban flooding is a universal phenomenon and poses a great challenge to urban planners the
world over. Urban floods will happen in a relatively short period of time and can inundate an area with several feet of
water. Although volume of water to be handled is not as severe as a flash flood of a river system the property damages
and indirect financial losses are significant as surface water runoff is controlled and managed by humans in a concrete
world as this flooding occurs in highly populated areas.
As the Environment Agency sustainable development Unit said in June 2001: “Major floods that have only
happened before say, every 100 years on average, may now start to happen every 10 or 20 years. The flood season may
become longer and there will be flooding in places where there has never been any before”[1].
Urban flooding is significantly different from rural flooding as urbanisation leads to developed catchments which
increases the flood peaks from 1.8 to 8 times and flood volumes by up to 6 times. Consequently, flooding occurs very
quickly due to faster flow times, sometimes in a matter of minutes. Urban areas are centers of economic activities with
vital infrastructure which needs to be protected 24x7.
In urban areas, water must follow the prescribed pathways set forth by large water systems that direct water where
to flow. According to FEMA, the basic philosophy of urban drainage systems, or "storm water management", for re-
directing water flow has been to seek maximum convenience at an individual site by the most rapid possible elimination
of excess surface water after a rainfall and the containment and disposal of that water as quickly as possible through a
closed/ Open conveyance system. In other words, "get that water out of here NOW" has been the overlying philosophy of
creating drainage systems in urban areas[2].
# Projected
N latitude and 78.476° E longitude. The landscape of the city is dominated by hills, tanks, forests and rock formations.
Soil type is mainly red sandy interspersed with areas of black cotton soil.
It has been seen from the records of rainfall from the District Planning Office of the Hyderabad District, the months
of July, August and September are generally heavy rain months. The total rain in these months works out to 490.2 mm
for normal rain fall. Hyderabad city gets annual average rainfall nearly 787mms. Out of this, nearly 75% is from South
west Monsoon and rest of the rainfall from North East monsoon. City gets nearly 590 mms of rain fall in June to
September period. Due to its unique topography of many undulations, rain water flows to the low-lying areas rapidly
resulting in inundation of many low lying areas very quickly.
Due to the above reasons several parts of the city experiences local floods mainly confined to the low lying areas in
the built up areas and the fore shore areas of the tanks. This type of situation was not experienced in the past, possibly
due to much less population as compared to the present level and also the fact that infrastructure and constructions were
limited. Due to this situation the city experienced floods as a result of heavy rains in recent years.
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Not only in Hyderabad but in all Indian cities and towns, large habitations are coming up in low-lying areas, often
encroaching over drainage channels. In some cases, houses are constructed even on top of nallahs and drains.
Encroachment in the immediate upper catchments of hilly urban area has also caused serious flooding in the flood plains
of cities surrounded by hills. Urbanisation in Hyderabad leads to increase in impervious areas which, in turn,
significantly increased the rate of runoff, resulting in overwhelming of designed capacity of the stormwater drainage
system. As a result of all these happenings, even small amounts of rainfall are generating urban flooding.
Flooding is largely caused by Meteorological factors (like cyclonic storms, monsoon rains), Hydrological factors
(like Groundwater and soil moisture level prior to storm Natural surface infiltration rate, Presence of impervious cover,
Channel cross-sectional shape and roughness) and Human factors like Land use changes (e.g. surface sealing due to
urbanization, deforestation) increase runoff and sedimentation, Occupation of the flood plain and thereby obstructing
flows, Inefficiency or non maintenance of infrastructure, Urban micro-climate may enforce precipitation events,
Indiscriminate disposal of solid waste. In the case of Hyderabad frequent flooding is largely caused by human factors
rather than meteorological and Hydrological factors.
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i. Installation of advanced Radar system like Doppler to give more accurate information. Setting up of automatic Rain
Gauge Systems at every vulnerable area for issuing of timely warnings, whenever there is a heavy rainfall.
ii. Storm Water drains should not be clogged by solid waste matter. Solid waste removal from the roads and the
residences to be organised by the GHMC in partnership with the Colony Welfare Committee. People in the colony
should be educated about this aspect.
iii. Restoration and Desilting of Nalas to allow rain water from the higher areas and surrounding areas to flow into near
by Lakes.
iv. Banning of all future construction activity near the waterlines
v. Officials of Revenue, Police and Fire and Emergency Services army be included in the flood control unit on as
required basis.
vi. Tank areas should be identified and boundaries should be protected by wall or strong fence and GHMC should
monitor regularly to prevent further encroachments and fix the responsibility of protection of the lakes to the
concerned officers the area.
vii. Training programs should be organised for staff involved in operational and administrative measures to enable them
to take actions as per the operating procedures.
viii. Sensitization programs should be organised for public representatives on the Flood related aspects.
ix. Damage assessment in the vulnerable areas to be consolidated and sufficient fund allocation be planned to ensure
that proper repairs are executed after the floods. This will help in reducing the recurring expenditure for the same
damages every year.
x. Activities undertaken by the government agencies for the floods should be documented and publicized in all forms
of media.
xi. Public should be informed about town planning laws, water bodies and the regulatory measures in the various acts
related to the environment and urban floods.
6.0 Conclusion
Urban storm water management may not be efficient unless it was handled in conjunctive manner. A
multidimensional approach is necessary to solve this problem. For the present case some of the management options
which has to be carried simultaneously to address the problem are:
Risk mapping of the areas of the city should be done to assess the vulnerability, related to urban floods, using
GIS Technology.
Limit, reduce and/or mitigate for impervious surfaces throughout the watershed by Use of new engineering
techniques like pervious pathways, pervious parking lots should be considered and implemented wherever
possible to minimize the surface runoff.
Conserve and protect areas for groundwater recharge. Utilize conjunctive management to enhance groundwater
storage: in some instances, diversions of surface water for groundwater infiltration could enhance flood
management by reducing peak flows.
Promote groundwater recharge and pollutant attenuation by removing concrete flood-control channels and
exposing the underlying native sediment.
GHMC/HMWSSB should rethink its policy of charging amount for rainwater harvesting structures while
according permission to plan. They should keep this as a check point for giving occupancy certificate.
Town Planning department of GHMC should regularly monitor the prohibited areas to prevent encroachments.
Public should be educated on the risks involved in illegal constructions on or along nalas and tank areas and
they should be advised to vacate the vulnerable area. Government should consider relocation for the poor people
in some other areas. If this does not work out then, the harsher decision of demolition of the structures must be
given a serious thought.
References
1. http://weather.about.com/od/u/qt/urban_flooding.htm
2. Urban Food Risk Management: A Tool for Integrated Flood Management, AFPM document, GWP and WMO, 2008
3. A.P. State Disaster Management Plan, August 2010, Published by Revenue (Disaster Management II) Department
Government of Andhra Pradesh
4. IHP-V | Technical Documents in Hydrology | No. 50 UNESCO, Paris, 2001
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