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Flash floods in Guwahati, Assam, are a recurring issue. However, the events of the afternoon of August 5, 2024, were unprecedented in the city’s history of monsoon-induced flooding. The heavy downpour led to massive waterlogging, causing arterial roads to be completely blocked and resulting in traffic jams stretching for multiple kilometres and hours. The entire city came to a standstill, with people stranded on flyovers, the only high grounds in a city seemingly drowning. The situation became so dire that parents had to wade through water to rescue their children from school buses, which were still stuck in traffic at 9 PM, more than six hours after departing from schools. Aerial images of jam-packed flyovers with people and vehicles taking refuge amidst the floodwaters vividly captured the severity of the situation, marking it as one of the most extreme episodes the city has faced in recent years.
What led to this unprecedented situation?
The pressing question that followed was: What caused this unprecedented urban flood in Guwahati? Was it poor urban planning, natural factors, climate change, or a combination of all three?
State Housing and Urban Affairs Minister Ashok Singhal attributed the disaster to the severe flow of water from neighboring Meghalaya. Singhal highlighted that the heavy influx of water from the hilly regions of Meghalaya, combined with intense rainfall in Guwahati, led to the unprecedented flooding in the city.
“You can’t fight nature. I won’t say that work on this regard haven’t been done, but we have been unable to halt the flow of water from Meghalaya. To make things worse, it also poured quite heavily yesterday,” Singhal was quoted as saying in news reports.
The Minister further emphasized his point by noting the color of the floodwater. He pointed out that on August 5, the floodwater appeared red, which he claimed indicated it originated from neighboring Meghalaya, where the water is typically red, unlike Guwahati, where floodwater is usually black.
Climate Change leading to increasing flood situations in Northeast India
It is well-known now that climate change has been affecting the northeastern part of India for the last two-three decades. Climate experts and agencies have noted the telltale signs of climate change everywhere in the region varying from extreme rainfall events to sudden heatwave like situations.
Climate expert Dr Partha J Das who is also the head of the ‘Water, Climate & Hazard Division’ of Aaranyak told CFC India, “The heavy rainfall conditions, often turning into extreme rainfall events and cloud bursts, have generated more flash floods of late than before. The Brahmaputra Valley in Assam is suffering dearly from flash floods caused by rain extremes, especially in the foothill areas bordering our neighbouring hill states like Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Nagaland and countries like Bhutan, from where many of our fast moving rivers are flowing into the plains of Assam. Heavy rainfall also triggers more landslides in the hillslopes which contributes more sediment to the rivers flowing to Assam and thus causes rise in the bed level through bed deposition. This is a major reason why our rivers are flooding more with even relatively lower rainfall compared to the past. With more concentrated rainfall over smaller time intervals the floods have become more intense and frequent causing more loss and damage.”
Did climate change play a role in August 5 Guwahati floods?
While it is not possible to directly pinpoint the role and extent of climate change in a particular flood situation, it is worthwhile to note if any anomalies in precipitation, etc were recorded that could have directly impacted the event.
Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma posted on X official rainfall records from August 5 pointing to the adverse weather conditions.
An X post by the official Chief Minister of Assam account said, “Yesterday rainfall in Khanapara area of Guwahati touched 132 mm within 90 minutes. This is almost 20-25% of the total rainfall received by the city in the entire monsoon season. Along with record rain in hills of surrounding Meghalaya, a flash flood situation developed in parts of Guwahati. Govt of Assam is working on comprehensive solutions to tackle this issue and create necessary infrastructural interventions to minimise the effects of flash floods caused by adverse weather conditions.”
Sarma also posted from his personal account on X along the same lines with Minister Singhal when he wrote, “Yesterday, Ri-Bhoi district in Meghalaya received record rainfall of nearly 100 mm. Heavy rainfall in the hills along with rains of 60 mm in Guwahati- this 90 minutes of rains was nearly 25% of rain fall the city receives during the entire monsoon season. This resulted in extraordinary flash floods in parts of the State Capital.”
TOI cited the Regional Meteorological Center to report that ‘Guwahati received a total of 78.4 mm rainfall between 8.30 am on August 5 to 8.30 am on August 6.’ This was the ‘highest daily rainfall of the season as well as of the year so far,’ the report added.
Climate expert Dr Partha J Das told CFC India in this regard, “Guwahati received more than 100 mm in about 2 hours on 5th August. The heavy rainfall experienced across the city on the day varied from 70 MM to 130 MM spread over more than 2 hours. Although such intense rain spells can be attributed to climate change, this is not the first time that the city has received such rain extremes.”
Blaming climate change to compensate for poor urban development?
It is quite clear that while it cannot be blamed that unprecedented rainfall did take place on August 5 which surely must have contributed to the massive urban floods in Guwahati, the city has a history of poor drainage facility and unplanned urban development, which definitely made matters worse.
It also cannot be denied that the peculiar geographical location of the city makes it particularly susceptible to rain water flowing downwards from the surrounding hills including the ones of neighbouring Meghalaya. However, this has been happening since ages and urban development in Guwahati needs to be planned around it.
Dr Das said in this regard, “We have seen a propensity of the authorities to escape responsibility by blaming climate change for such catastrophes that are incapable of managing. But the reality is that such urban flooding disasters happen mainly owing to governance failure which one can see in inefficient drainage, unscientific urban planning and development and lack of coordination among the line departments in executing various projects.”
“The concerned agencies like the water Resources Department, the Guwahati Municipal Development Authority and the Town Planning and Urban Development Departments ideally should be able to anticipate a couple of such spells every monsoon season and prepare to deal with consequent floods accordingly. However, it is seen that they are not adequately aware about possible climatic implications, nor are they equipped to deal with such extremities,” Dr Das added.
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Banner image: Collage of images from flooding on August 5, 2024 in Guwahati
