Climatic, geomorphic and anthropogenic drivers of the 2014 extreme flooding in the Jhelum basin of Kashmir, India

Abstract

The 2014 extreme flooding in Kashmir, with the peak discharge exceeding 115,000 cfs and the Jhelum River overflowing its banks, was triggered by the complex interplay of atmospheric disturbances causing widespread extreme rainfall for 7 days preceding the event. We used multisource data in GIS environment; satellites, hydro-meteorological, socioeconomic and field data, to assess the role of various factors in the flooding. The event was aggravated by the geomorphic setup of the Valley. Tributaries in the south, characterized by high gradient, decreased time of runoff concentration and increased flood peakedness with short lag, almost simultaneously discharge enormous volumes of floodwaters into the Jhelum around Sangam. Owing to the flat gradient of the Jhelum from Sangam downstream (<5 o), floods historically inundate vast areas in the stretch. The situation was exacerbated by the anthropogenic drivers, such as extensive urbanization of the floodplain, loss of wetlands, and decreased channel capacity due to the siltation from the deforested mountainous landscapes. The dilapidated flood control infrastructure and the institutional inability to manage the enormity of the event made the situation worst causing unprecedented damage to the infrastructure in the basin with the capital city Srinagar inundated up to »30ft for more than a week.

Early Evidence of Shifts in Alpine Summit Vegetation: A Case Study From Kashmir Himalaya

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Analyses of temperature and precipitation in the Indian Jammu and Kashmir region for the 1980–2016 period: implications for remote influence and extreme events

“…Extreme weather events like anomalously large floods and unusual drought conditions associated with changes in climate play havoc with livelihoods of citizens even of developed societies, particularly in coastal and mountainous areas. Jammu and Kashmir, India, located in the western Himalayan region, is one such cataclysmically formed mountainous region where the significant influence of climate change on local weather has been observed for the last few decades: (1) shrinking and reducing glaciers, (2) devastating floods, (3) decreasing winter duration and rainfall, and (4) increasing summer duration and temperature (Solomon et al, 2007;Kohler and Maselli, 2009;Immerzeel et al, 2010;Romshoo et al, 2015Romshoo et al, , 2017. Western disturbances (WDs) are considered one of the main sources of winter precipitation for the Jammu and Kashmir region, which brings water vapor mainly from the tropical Atlantic Ocean, Mediterranean Sea, Caspian Sea and Black Sea.…”

Current Status of Wetlands in Srinagar City: Threats, Management Strategies, and Future Perspectives

“…The harmful social, financial, and ecological impacts of declining biodiversity and degrading water quality are a matter of concern (Verma et al, 2001;Bassi et al, 2014). Most of these wetlands used to act as buffers soaking flood waters but the encroachment and infrastructure development within these wetlands has reduced their water holding capacity, increasing the vulnerability of people toward flooding (Romshoo et al, 2017). The central business hub of Srinagar, the capital city, is often affected during a normal precipitation event as the drainage channels that used to drain out storm water runoff have mostly been taken over by concrete surfaces (Rashid and Naseem, 2008).…”