Necessary steps to prevents flood in India – IBPS PO Descriptive 2017

In the rainy season rivers and canals are full to the brim. Sometimes
water rises so high that it overflows the banks. Fields, and sometimes
houses, lies under water. This great rise of water is called a flood.
Here are some things that can be done to protect homes and
communities from the damage caused by flooding.
Floods can be prevented with proper planning and adoption of effective
mitigation measures, particularly in areas prone to flooding. 

1) Improving Drainage:
Improving water drainage helps control floods by facilitating easy flow of
excess water, especially in urban areas during flash floods. It can be
improved by rehabilitating and cleaning water drainage systems,
including removing solid waste from drainage systems. Effective
drainage systems can ensure flood waters find a clear waterway, leading
to non-risk areas. 

2) Building Dikes and Levees:
Dikes and levees are flood-control structures built to fight river flooding
and water surges. Dikes and levees restrain rivers during floods by
providing artificial water channels that prevent runoffs from bursting
floodplains. 

3) Building Canals: Canals are artificial water channels that can be crucial to flood
prevention. Canals facilitate control of water levels passing through, and
form linear reservoirs and water locks. Canals can also be used to lock
excess flood waters in its linear reservoirs to prevent flooding and store
water for future use. 

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4) Harvesting Rain Water: Harvesting rainwater involves collecting and storing rainwater and can
not only prevent floods, it can also curb urban water scarcity. Rain water
harvesting is carried out in different ways, including building ponds,
storm drains, water retention basins and flood-control dams. 

5) Detention basin:
These are small reservoirs built and connected to waterways. They
provide a temporary storage for floodwaters. This means in an event of
flooding, water is drained into the basin first, giving people more time to
evacuate. 

6) Education:
In many developing countries, drainage systems are chocked with litter
and people have little knowledge of the effects that can have during a
rain. When it rains, waterways and culverts are blocked by massive
chunks of litter and debris, and water finds its way into the streets and
into people’s homes.

Education is therefore very important, to inform
and caution people about the dangers of floods, what causes floods, and
what can be done to minimise its impact.
The Central Government Mechanism includes several organizations and
various expert committees to enable the State Governments in
addressing flood problems.

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