Addressing flooding in the city of Surat beyond its boundaries

Bhat, G. K.; Karanth, Anup; Dashora, Lalit; Rajasekar, Umamaheshwaran

doi:10.1177/0956247813495002

Cited by 46 publications

(34 citation statements)

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“…For example, Surat, India, is vulnerable to flooding during monsoon seasons (Chu, 2016a). In the early 2010s, Surat built several large-scale infrastructures to reduce flood risks; however, this infrastructure is functional only if coordinated with the upstream dams managing discharge from the larger regional watershed (Bhat, Karanth, Dashora, & Rajasekar, 2013). In another example, Medellín, Colombia, is building a 46-mile-long green belt to manage growth while also protecting urban forests, providing access to green spaces, and reducing urban heat island effects .…”

Section: Spatial and Scalar Dilemmasmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Dilemmas of Citizen Inclusion in Urban Planning and Governance to Enable a 1.5 °C Climate Change Scenario

Chu

Schenk

Patterson

2018

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Cities around the world are facilitating ambitious and inclusive action on climate change by adopting participatory and collaborative planning approaches. However, given the major political, spatial, and scalar interdependencies involved, the extent to which these planning tools equip cities to realise 1.5°C climate change scenarios is unclear. This article draws upon emerging knowledge in the fields of urban planning and urban climate governance to explore complementary insights into how cities can pursue ambitious and inclusive climate action to realise 1.5°C climate change scenarios. We observe that urban planning scholarship is often under-appreciated in urban climate governance research, while conversely, promising urban planning tools and approaches can be limited by the contested realities of urban climate governance. By thematically reviewing diverse examples of urban climate action across the globe, we identify three key categories of planning dilemmas: institutional heterogeneity, scalar mismatch, and equity and justice concerns. We argue that lessons from urban planning and urban climate governance scholarship should be integrated to better understand how cities can realise 1.5°C climate change scenarios in practice.

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Section: Spatial and Scalar Dilemmasmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Dilemmas of Citizen Inclusion in Urban Planning and Governance to Enable a 1.5 °C Climate Change Scenario

Chu

Schenk

Patterson

2018

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“…During this catastrophic flood 75% of the city was 15 flooded, an estimated 40% of the city inhabitants received no warning about the dam release, human deaths totalled 300 and damages exceeded 3 billion USD (Bhat et al, 2013;Patel and Srivastava, 2013). Since 2006 embankments alongside the river have been raised and no major floods have occurred, but the effectiveness of these embankments is questionable because future climate change within the Tapi basin during the monsoon season is expected to have a 30% increase in rainfall (Mishra and Lilhare, 2016) and increased occurrence of extreme rainfall events (200-350 mm/day) (Bhat et al, 2013;Deshpande et al, 20 2016). These climatic changes may result in a 75% increase stream flow for the Tapi river (Mishra and Lilhare, 2016) and subsequently result in unprecedented emergency dam releases that produce flooding in Surat.…”

Section: Study Sitementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Although our assessment suggests that low income groups have lower exposure to deep flooding it is important to highlight that these groups are most vulnerable to flood disasters. For example, in Surat few low income groups have flood insurance and 75% of low income groups have employment that results in income instability after a flood disaster due to damage to industry and disruption to production (Bhat et al, 2013;Jha et al, 2012). While our flood exposure 10 assessment takes into account potential changes in climate and resulting floods, the model does not consider socio-economic changes (e.g.…”

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confidence: 99%

Flood modeling can make a difference: Disaster risk-reduction and resilience-building in urban areas

Ramı́rez

Rajasekar²,

Patel

et al. 2016

Preprint

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Abstract. Surat, India is a coastal city with a population of approximately 4.5 million people that lies on the banks of the river 10Tapi and is located 100 km downstream from the Ukai dam. Given Surat's geographic location the city is repeatedly exposed to flooding caused by large emergency dam releases into the Tapi river combined with high tide water levels. Flood events of this type occur twice a decade, but their frequency and magnitude may increase due to the urbanization, encroachment in flood plain and climate change. A first step towards strengthening resilience in Surat requires a robust method for mapping flood exposure at fine spatial resolution. Here, in this study we have developed such a method for Surat using a reduced-complexity 15 hydrodynamic model to simulate flooding, but is easily transferable to other urban locations. Our method features three distinct phases that involve: 1) modelling dam release discharge from the Ukai dam arriving at Surat, 2) modelling flooding within Surat caused by the combination of dam release and tides, and, 3) identifying Surat critical infrastructure, population, and income groups exposed to flooding. Our flood model of Surat utilizes topography produced using elevation data collected from an extensive survey. Within the city we have modelled flood scenarios that represent the uncertainty in flood peak discharge 20 and duration resulting from possible climate change. These scenarios include catastrophic conditions that flood 50% of the city and expose > 60% of the population and critical infrastructure to deep flooding. Finally, we highlight how our modelling has contributed to changes in flood risk management within the city following a major flood and resulted in actions that have increased community resilience to flood hazard.

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“…Floods on 26 July 2005 in Mumbai killed 1200 people, affected more than two lakh people, and cost Rs 20 thousand crore in losses (IFRC, 2010). In the 2006 floods in Surat, 77 per cent of the working population lost 15-30 days' work (Bhat, Karanth, Dashora, & Rajasekar, 2013). The 2009 floods in Kurnool were considered one of the worst in 100 years, and inundated the city with more than 30 feet of water (Ramachandraiah, 2011).…”

Section: Exposure To Climate Related Hazardsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It is also important to look beyond city boundaries on hazards that can have direct and indirect impact on cities and urban systems (Satterthwaite (2013), and Bhat et al (2013). For example, drought impact on agriculture in the peri-urban and rural areas can increase the food prices, lead to migration to the cities and affect the local economy (Since 2001, India has experienced three severe drought years in 2002, 2004 and 2009 Social Vulnerability: There seems to be a persistence of poverty and inequality in urban areas, particularly seen through the lens of slums and unemployment.…”

Section: Urban Vulnerabilitiesmentioning

confidence: 99%