Urban Flood Management in Metropolitan Cities of India

To have a sustainable development, it is essential to incorporate the idea of resilience into the planning of our cities in the fast-changing world of increased urbanization, vulnerability, and resilience. A system’s vulnerability is its susceptibility to, and inability to withstand, the negative consequences of climate change. A system, community, or society’s resilience is its capacity to withstand, absorb, adapt to, and recover from the consequences of risks. In India, floods rank among the deadliest natural calamities. Urban flooding poses a serious risk to Indian cities. Planning a city without a robust resilience strategy to cope from disasters is equivalent to wasting resources and putting people, infrastructure, assets, and economy at risk. When rivers and streams overflow their banks and flood the nearby low-lying areas, known as the natural floodplains, it results in fluvial flooding. Pluvial flooding is a disastrous occurrence that occurs when rainfall exceeds the capacity of drainage systems, submerging land, or property in a developed environment, especially in regions with higher population densities (like cities).