Hyderabad witness its heaviest downpour in over a century

Record rain and heavy flooding hampered the daily life in Hyderabad on Wednesday, killing at least 15 people and causing waterlogging in various parts of the city.
Police teams and Disaster Response Force (DRF) personnel have evacuated several families from flood-hit localities, even as rescue efforts were underway in other areas.

Speaking to Express, climate change researchers warn that extreme rainfall events and urban flooding are expected to become frequent and increasing resiliency of Hyderabad is the need of the hour.

A study by BITS Pilani Hyderabad researchers warns that if the state of affairs in Hyderabad remains the same, there might be a three-fold increase in run-off water from rains, 22 percent increase in flood depth of Musi river, and around 51 percent of the city will be vulnerable to floods more severe than now.

This is based on a predicted extreme rainfall occurrence in the city of 266mm within 24 hours in the next 20 years as per climate change simulations.

The study also highlights that land cover plays an important role in occurrences of such disasters. It mentions that the concretized area in Hyderabad increased from 55 percent in 1995 to 73 percent in 2016. This is expected to increase to 80 percent in 2031.

Between 1995 to 2016 area under water bodies decreased from 16 sq.km. to 7 sq.km and area under vegetation decreased from 232sq.km to 117sq.km.

To read more about why floods occur in Hyderabad, visit https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/hyderabad/why-floods-occur-in-hyderabad/articleshow/78656057.cms