What has aggravated the Indian floods?

Before the monsoon rains hit southern India, the country’s water commission had already warned that as many as 41 reservoirs across the country were choking with excess water.

India’s Central Water Commission had said that might result in disastrous floods, especially west and south of the country.

Nattubhai Jemabhai, a 50-year-old farmer from Gokharwada village in Surendranagar district of Gujarat said: “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.”

Heavy downpour has left at least 30 medium dams, most of them in Gujarat’s Saurashtra district, overflowing.

“These big dams already had 30% water before the onset of monsoon. Had the dams been emptied before the monsoon, villages and farmlands downstream could have been saved,” said Jemabhai.

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

“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,” said Ameer.

ActionAid teams and local partners are responding in flood affected regions across the country.