Excess water in dams worsens floods

Seventeen people lost their lives on day five of downpour in Gujarat even as flood water withdrew from most parts of the state. The death toll has gone up to 122 ever since torrential rains hit the state on June 30. At least 200 persons are missing.

Over 4000 people have lost their homes, with more than 4500 houses completely destroyed. Crops in lakhs of hectares have damaged as rains lashed furiously on the first three days. Eighty thousand people have been shifted out of their homes.

More than 11000 villages across 17 districts are staggering under the onslaught of rains. The districts worst-hit by the flood are Narmada and Surat in South Gujarat, Surendranagar districts in Saurashtra, Vadodara, Junagadh, Jamnagar and Rajkot. Power supply in more than 2000 villages has been disrupted.

With partner organisations Behavioural Science Centre, MARAG and Bhal Mahila CCS, ActionAid has surveyed Ahmedabad, Banaskantha, Sabarkantha and Surendranagar districts. What was found is that Dalits and indigeneous tribes are in dire need of relief.

So far, the district administration has been open about bridging gaps in the relief process. But despite this, food and medicines are urgently needed.

Even as chief minister Narendra Modi has offered compensation of Rs 1 lakh to affected families, communities worry if the promise would be kept. Relief packages declared after the floods of 2005 and 2006 have still not been fully distributed in the state.

In 2005, rains had damaged 239000 hectares of land in Gujarat. In 2006, relentless rains for one month immediately after the sowing of crops had led to heavy losses for farmers. Many could not recover from successive losses of two years and 147 farmers committed suicide.

“The state government has been consistently leaving flood-affected persons in the lurch for the last three years. Hopefully, this time a ground swell of the affected people will demand what they are entitled to,” says ActionAid’s Javed Ameer.

What aggravated the floods?

The latest Central Water Commission report, had already warned that as many as 41 reservoirs across the country were choking with excess water and that might result in disastrous floods, especially in the western and southern belt of the country.

Floods in Gujarat could have been significantly toned down had the water levels in these reservoirs been properly maintained. Heavy downpour has left at least 30 medium dams, most of them in Saurashtra, overflowing.

Nattubhai Jemabhai, a 50-year-old farmer from Gokharwada village in Surendranagar district says, “All the check dams downstream of the big Vasan and Vaghoda dams broke down because of the sudden release of water from the big dams. These big dams already had 30% water before the onset of monsoon. Obviously they could not take in the sudden deluge. Had the dams been emptied before the monsoon, villages and farmlands downstream could have been saved.”

“If the state government does not take the initiative to bring down the water levels in these reservoirs, more catastrophic floods can be expected,” adds Javed.

More doctors and medicines needed in Andhra Pradesh

ActionAid teams in Kurnool and Prakasam districts of Andhra Pradesh have found that food, doctors and livelihoods are desperately needed by affected villagers.

Forty one people have lost their lives in recent days and more than three lakh people in 220 villages have been badly hit. An estimated 10,000 houses are damaged.

The worst affected districts are Cuddapah, Mahboobnagar, Prakasam, Krishna, Guntur, East Godavari, Srikakulum and Kurnool.

In Kurnool, nine people died and as many as 16845 families were hit by the floods. Water logging has damaged 27000 acres of land.

Gajulapalli village in Mahalandi block, Kurnool district, home to around 200 Dalit and 227 Muslim families had received no government support when ActionAid staff had arrived on day three, that is June 24, after flash floods hit the low-lying area. Water here rose so suddenly that people were unable to rescue money, grain and household goods.

Around half of the homes have been destroyed in the village. Vulnerable houses made of thatch, stones and mud, suffered major damage with walls and the stones used to build them washed away.

Rahamad Bee, a 30 year old Muslim woman was distraught: "I need to earn money. I need to cook. I need to take care of the family. How can I do this when the house is gone?"

With severe water logging, farming cannot begin anytime soon. In normal times these families rely on daily wages of around Rs 25 from agricultural work. With no work and any money or grain they had managed to store now lost, they require daily food rations to survive.

When the rains had initially struck, traders and local landowning farmers who employ daily wage workers set up a community kitchen providing food.

Left out

Though the state government has offered 10 kilos of rice, 10 litres kerosene and Rs 2000 to each affected family, rations and money have yet to reach those who need them. In Pusuluru village, out of 77 families only 39 have received the rations so far.

In Chaparevu village, 83 families availed of the government’s offer but 117 families were left out.

Though 110 families were given rations in Peddadevulapuram village, 50 Dalit families were left out.

In Kadamalakaluva village, no rations were given to 100 families living there. Only 20 families received Rs. 2000 each.

More diseases feared

In Kurnool's Mahalandi and Bandi Atmakur blocks, some 2000 children saw their school books washed away.

One of those is five year old Mallika (pictured) who like a growing number of flood survivors is now suffering from fever.

Though medical camps were organised in 105 villages of Kurnool, remote villages were left out.

"Water logging, silt deposit and consuming wet grain are likely to cause further illness. These villages urgently need safe drinking water and medical assistance," says Sandhya Srinivasan, head of ActionAid's Andhra Pradesh team.

ActionAid is sharing the situation in Gajulapalli and other 'unreached' areas with the authorities. Elsewhere, in urban slum areas of Kurnool district, ActionAid's local partner Novok distributed 1750 food packets and 3000 drinking water packages to flood affected families. In Nandyal Mandal block, Novok distributed 10 kilos of rice and a blanket to 100 families.

The state government has opened 95 relief camps and announced a compensation of two lakh rupees for those who have lost their family members.

Promises by Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister to provide Rs 4,000 to those whose homes were washed away and Rs 2000 for submerged houses were greeted by protests. Communities say it will cost them Rs 12-15,000 to rebuild their houses, particularly as they should be more, not less secure than ones they have lost.

Maharashtra is still reeling

Heavy rains in Maharashtra this week killed over 50 people and have left thousands homeless.

Mumbai, capital of Maharashtra state, is limping back to normalcy after the downpour last week. Five persons were killed when a building collapsed. Also, two persons were electrocuted.

Even as the rain has eased off in Sangli district, two days of deluge meant that families had to be shifted. Five thousand people living on the banks of the Krishna River were moved out of their homes.

In Amravati district, 350 villages are underwater with 26 people dead. Power supply and roads have been badly hit. Thousands of people have been evacuated from their homes and over 300 cattle have perished. Nearly 4000 huts were completely destroyed and 11,659 more dwellings were damaged. Efforts are still on to find missing persons.

“Crops and almost three feet high soil have been washed off from farms. This means that farmers can resume agricultural work only after four months. Some land in fact has been rendered barren,” says Dr Madhukar Namdev Rao Gumble of Apeksha Society, an ActionAid partner organisation.

People are in desperate need of clothes, bedding and blankets. Plastic sheets and bamboo poles are also needed to make temporary houses. Water from Vishroi dam in Chandrabazar block of Amravati district was slowly released, which led to flooding in Pedhi River. This in turn has accumulated eight feet of water in Nandura B village. Low-lying areas, which mostly house Dalit families, have borne the brunt of flooding.

Koshish Network and Apeksha Society, ActionAid partner organizations are working with the district administration to move survivors to safer places like schools, community halls and village council offices. They are also clearing out mud and floodwater and pulling out submerged utensils from houses in seven villages of Chandrabazar and Achalpur blocks of Amravati district. Some clothes have been handed out to women and girls. But the need far outweighs the supply.

ActionAid partners aim to distribute kits with 250 ml oil, five kilos of wheat flour, one kilo of rice and 500 grams of pulses among 2000 families by tomorrow evening. Safe drinking water is also being handed out.

The extent of damage is being assessed in these villages to see if they indeed tally with what government officials have recorded. Already, government lists that have missed out names of family members are being freshly charted out.

The government has promised to dole out Rs 4800 for houses that were completely destroyed and Rs 2400 to those families whose huts were partially damaged. “This would be grossly inadequate,” adds Dr Gumble.

The meteorological department foresees heavy rainfall in both Maharashtra and Gujarat.

Other states  

In Kolkata, rains have claimed lives of eight people.

In Karnataka, 39 people have died in the heavy downpour lashing Belgaum, Bijapur, Raichur, Gulbarga , Udupi and Dakshina Kannada districts.

In Kerala, 43 people have died and thousands have lost homes. Hundreds of families are taking shelter in relief camps. Power supply too has been hit badly.

Fishing communities have been advised not to venture into the sea along the Maharashtra and Goa coasts.

Heavy rains pounded Banswara and Udaipur districts in Rajasthan with Salopat recording the maximum rainfall of 13 centimeters

Updated: 06/07/2007

Photo credits: ActionAid