Will the 2019 floods change the way we respond to extreme weather events?

Experts say climate change isn't always the culprit; exploitation, pollution and encroachment by humans play a larger role in making a disaster out of a manageable hazard

Pune-based engineer Tejas Patil has always welcomed the monsoon, whose light-to-moderate rains have provided much relief to his city after the harsh summer each year. Welcoming the showers is something the 30-year-old who works for a unicorn start-up has been doing one season after another. 

Not this year. This time, he was one of the thousands of Pune-ites who lost their vehicles to flash floods this September. Treasure Park, the housing complex of which he is a resident, lost as many as 400 cars and over 1,000 two-wheelers overnight. The loss of vehicles is a smaller tragedy. The larger one is