(Proceedings, Workshop on Flood and Drought Management, 16–17 September 2004, New Delhi, pp. FM-46).
Floods are most frequent natural calamity that India has to face almost every year in varying degrees. Damage to property and miseries caused due to disruption of basic civic amenities as a result of floods is enormous. Floods also cause substantial loss of human life and huge loss of cattle heads apart from untold misery to a large section of people. Flood forecasting and warning is an important nonstructural measure for flood management. In India 159 flood forecasting stations are operated by Central Water Commission through field offices for issuing flood forecasts and warnings on all major inter-state rivers which includes inflow forecasts for 25 major reservoirs/barrages. The performance of the forecasts is more than 95%. In addition to managing the national rivers, India has also bilateral arrangements with its neighbouring countries for international rivers to manage the floods due to them.
Natural calamity, Varying degrees, Damage to property, Miseries, Basic civic amenities, Substantial loss of human life, Loss of cattle, Flood forecasting, Warning, Flood management
