IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/nathaz/v107y2021i1d10.1007_s11069-021-04604-0.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The 2016 flood of Bihar, India: an analysis of its causes

Author

Listed:
  • Abhijit Das

    (University of Calcutta)

  • Pritam Kumar Santra

    (University of Calcutta)

  • Sunando Bandyopadhyay

    (University of Calcutta)

Abstract

Flood is common in the sub-Himalayan plains of the Indian state of Bihar. During the massive flood of the Ganga between 18 and 31 August 2016, 15 (out of 38) districts and 3459 villages of the state were affected. The flood inundated 6006 km2 of area, harmed 8.82 million people, and caused damages worth US$ 73.99 million. To investigate the factors behind the event, we utilised SRTM elevation data and Landsat-8 OLI images to extract drainage networks and reservoirs of the region. Inundated area was delineated using MNDWI on MODIS data of 25-Aug-2016. Different hydrometeorological parameters employed in the study include percentage departure of monthly rainfall, discharge data of selected dams and barrages, and gauge data from six stations along a 526 km stretch of the Ganga: Buxar, Gandhi Ghat (Patna), Hathidah, Munger, Kahalgaon, and Manikchak Ghat. It was found that the flood was mainly caused by rapid release of water from the Bansagar Dam on the Son from 18 to 20-Aug-2016, as a tropical storm traversed through its upper catchment. Contributions from the Ganga’s Himalayan tributaries and upstream of the flooded area were negligible. The flood peak (50.52 m), recorded at Gandhi Ghat on 21 August 2016, passed downstream, and reached Manikchak Ghat (25.78 m) on 27–28 August 2016. The upstream extension of flooding due to the highest recorded flood level of 26.66 m of the Ganga at Farakka can only reach up to 6 km above Kahalgaon. Therefore, impoundment of the Ganga by the Farakka Barrage cannot have any impact on inundation of the areas above that limit and did not cause the 2016 floods.

Suggested Citation

  • Abhijit Das & Pritam Kumar Santra & Sunando Bandyopadhyay, 2021. "The 2016 flood of Bihar, India: an analysis of its causes," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 107(1), pages 751-769, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:nathaz:v:107:y:2021:i:1:d:10.1007_s11069-021-04604-0
    DOI: 10.1007/s11069-021-04604-0
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s11069-021-04604-0
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s11069-021-04604-0?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. P. Mohapatra & R. Singh, 2003. "Flood Management in India," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 28(1), pages 131-143, January.
    2. A. Pandey & Suraj Singh & M. Nathawat, 2010. "Waterlogging and flood hazards vulnerability and risk assessment in Indo Gangetic plain," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 55(2), pages 273-289, November.
    3. O. Dhar & Shobha Nandargi, 2003. "Hydrometeorological Aspects of Floods in India," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 28(1), pages 1-33, January.
    4. Omvir Singh & Manish Kumar, 2013. "Flood events, fatalities and damages in India from 1978 to 2006," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 69(3), pages 1815-1834, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Rajeev Ranjan & Pankaj R. Dhote & Praveen K. Thakur & Shiv P. Aggarwal, 2022. "Investigation of basin characteristics: Implications for sub-basin-level vulnerability to flood peak generation," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 112(3), pages 2797-2829, July.
    2. Omvir Singh & Hawa Singh, 2015. "The response of farmers to the flood hazard under rice–wheat ecosystem in Somb basin of Haryana, India: an empirical study," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 75(1), pages 795-811, January.
    3. Gowhar Meraj & Shakil Romshoo & A. Yousuf & Sadaff Altaf & Farrukh Altaf, 2015. "Assessing the influence of watershed characteristics on the flood vulnerability of Jhelum basin in Kashmir Himalaya," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 77(1), pages 153-175, May.
    4. Abdur Rahim Hamidi & Jiangwei Wang & Shiyao Guo & Zhongping Zeng, 2020. "Flood vulnerability assessment using MOVE framework: a case study of the northern part of district Peshawar, Pakistan," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 101(2), pages 385-408, March.
    5. Rui-Song Quan, 2014. "Rainstorm waterlogging risk assessment in central urban area of Shanghai based on multiple scenario simulation," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 73(3), pages 1569-1585, September.
    6. Xiaoyun Sun & Guotao Zhang & Jiao Wang & Chaoyue Li & Shengnan Wu & Yao Li, 2022. "Spatiotemporal variation of flash floods in the Hengduan Mountains region affected by rainfall properties and land use," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 111(1), pages 465-488, March.
    7. Pallavi Tomar & Suraj Kumar Singh & Shruti Kanga & Gowhar Meraj & Nikola Kranjčić & Bojan Đurin & Amitanshu Pattanaik, 2021. "GIS-Based Urban Flood Risk Assessment and Management—A Case Study of Delhi National Capital Territory (NCT), India," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(22), pages 1-20, November.
    8. Dr. Sumanth S. Hiremath, 2024. "Development of Water Resource Management in India: An Overview," International Journal of Research and Scientific Innovation, International Journal of Research and Scientific Innovation (IJRSI), vol. 11(6), pages 457-465, June.
    9. Paweł Prokop & Adam Walanus, 2017. "Impact of the Darjeeling–Bhutan Himalayan front on rainfall hazard pattern," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 89(1), pages 387-404, October.
    10. S. Karuna Sagar & M. Rajeevan & S. Vijaya Bhaskara Rao, 2017. "On increasing monsoon rainstorms over India," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 85(3), pages 1743-1757, February.
    11. Hüseyin Çelik & Gonca Coskun & H. Cigizoglu & Necati Ağıralioğlu & Abdurrahim Aydın & A. Esin, 2012. "The analysis of 2004 flood on Kozdere Stream in Istanbul," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 63(2), pages 461-477, September.
    12. David Marcolino Nielsen & Marcio Cataldi & André Luiz Belém & Ana Luiza Spadano Albuquerque, 2016. "Local indices for the South American monsoon system and its impacts on Southeast Brazilian precipitation patterns," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 83(2), pages 909-928, September.
    13. Manabendra Saharia & Avish Jain & Ronit Raj Baishya & Saagar Haobam & O. P. Sreejith & D. S. Pai & Arezoo Rafieeinasab, 2021. "India flood inventory: creation of a multi-source national geospatial database to facilitate comprehensive flood research," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 108(1), pages 619-633, August.
    14. Cheng He & Liguo Zhou & Weichun Ma & Yuan Wang, 2019. "Spatial Assessment of Urban Climate Change Vulnerability during Different Urbanization Phases," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(8), pages 1-19, April.
    15. Fang Jing & Li-Zhuang Yang & Ya-Li Peng & Ying Wang & Xiaochu Zhang & Da-Ren Zhang, 2017. "Enhancing the effectiveness of flood road gauges with color coding," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 88(1), pages 55-70, August.
    16. Aimei Miao & Hongxia Wang & Chunqing Dong & Aimin Qin, 2021. "Statistical characteristics and risk zoning of different duration heavy rainfall in Shanxi," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 106(3), pages 2407-2436, April.
    17. Chih-Wei Lin & Cheng-Wu Chen & Wen-Ko Hsu & Chia-Yen Chen & Chung-Hung Tsai & Yi-Ping Hung & Wei-Ling Chiang, 2013. "Application of a feature-based approach to debris flow detection by numerical simulation," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 67(2), pages 783-796, June.
    18. Ishfaq Hussain Malik, 2022. "Spatial dimension of impact, relief, and rescue of the 2014 flood in Kashmir Valley," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 110(3), pages 1911-1929, February.
    19. Rajesh Kumar & Prasenjit Acharya, 2016. "Flood hazard and risk assessment of 2014 floods in Kashmir Valley: a space-based multisensor approach," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 84(1), pages 437-464, October.
    20. R. Abbasov & R. Mahmudov, 2009. "Analysis of non climatic origins of floods in the downstream part of the Kura River, Azerbaijan," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 50(2), pages 235-248, August.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:nathaz:v:107:y:2021:i:1:d:10.1007_s11069-021-04604-0. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.