An overview of flood management

Water is vital to life. No animal or plant life can exist without it. The land will not yield without supply of adequate water. Yet the same water causes havoc and becomes a terror in the form of floods when the rivers overflow their banks due to excessive rains in their catchment areas. A flood is an overflow of water that submerges land which is usually dry. In India almost every year floods are common in one part of the country or the other. Floods cause extensive damage. Apart from destroying crops, cattle, houses and all other things coming in its way, floods take away with it the upper fertile crust of land. Floods often cause damage to homes and businesses if they are in the natural flood plains of rivers. Some floods develop slowly, while others such as flash floods can develop in just a few minutes and without visible signs of rain. Additionally, floods can be local, impacting a neighborhood or community or very large affecting entire river basins. Hence, this paper lights an overview of flood management.