Statsguru: Sikkim floods turn the attention back on extreme weather events

The recent floods in Sikkim have turned the attention back on extreme weather events. Heavy rains and a glacial lake outburst flood (GLOF) led to the disaster in the northeastern state. India and its neighbourhood have seen a number of such events in recent years. South Asia is among the regions most vulnerable to climate change, with natural disasters such as floods being intensified by its effects, according to the World Bank.

About 100 instances of floods were reported during 2000-09 in India and 74 during 2010-19, according to EM-DAT, a database on international disasters. As many as 17 floods have already occurred since 2020 (chart 1). 

The economic cost of such disasters for the country over the last 10 years has been over $50 billion. The highest damage over the last decade was in 2014, which saw floods in Odisha, Uttarakhand, Bihar, and Assam among others (chart 2). Government data shows thousands of deaths due to flooding in recent years. 

More than 21 million people have been displaced over a 10-year period ending in 2022 (charts 3, 4).

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Sikkim’s flood is said to have washed away the Teesta-III dam, which was commissioned in 2017. It was reportedly not able to withstand the glacial lake outburst flood. A number of India’s dams are old. Though dams can safely last for decades, they are more closely watched as they get older. The challenges of oversight may only increase with time. India has over 1,000 dams that are over 50 years old (chart 5).

A significant rise in construction activity particularly in flood zones also increases the impact of such disasters when they occur. Though such construction in India has been lower than the global average, there has been a 72.5 per cent increase in construction activity in high-risk zones and a 66 per cent increase in construction activity in very high-risk zones between 1985 and 2015 (chart 6).