A Deadly Pattern of Monsoon Havoc: The Story of Our Own Making

Our Earth is in distress, The dire consequences could knock at our doors sooner than we imagine. This isn't mere speculation; it's a sobering reality.

Human-induced climate change is the most significant and far-reaching threat ever witnessed by our planet and societies. The poorest nations, unfortunately, bear the heaviest toll. This stark observation comes from a UN expert, underscoring the pressing need for immediate action to mitigate the suffering of those least equipped to withstand its impacts.

The monsoon season has unleashed its fury on our lands. Flash floods in the hills and streets transformed into rivers in our cities and towns—videos filled with terrifying images of cars floating like toys and homes being swallowed by the roaring waters.

The ferocious water carries away buildings, bridges, and vehicles. Beyond material losses, the most tragic cost is human lives. Yes, dozens of people lose their lives in these disasters. Are we learning anything?

This is not just an unfortunate event or a cruel twist of fate. This devastating sequence of disasters is becoming an annual routine. And we are primarily to blame for it.

Now, you might wonder why these floods are recurring every year. Here's the simple answer. We're significantly contributing to the problem. Let's break this down:

Imagine we're giving Earth a fever by cutting down forests and burning fuels like coal and gas. This fever is 'global warming.' When Earth heats up, the oceans also make more water evaporate. When monsoon season arrives, the clouds are like overfilled water balloons due to the extra water from evaporation. So when they burst, we get heavier rains than before. This is why our monsoons are causing so much trouble.

Source: NASA

Our cities, designed to accommodate millions, lack the infrastructure to handle these increasingly heavy monsoons. This is particularly true for the drainage systems in many cities. They simply cannot cope with the volume of water that the monsoon season brings. The drainage issue is becoming more severe as we continue to build and expand our cities.

Source: Livemint

In our rush to expand and develop, we have taken over the lands meant to protect us from floods: the floodplains. These are areas near rivers that naturally absorb excess water during heavy rains. We have transformed these spaces into camps, hotels, parking lots, and construction sites. This reckless construction leaves the water with nowhere to go but into our cities and towns, causing chaos and destruction.

Source: Hindustan Times

Think about places like Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand with stunning, lofty mountains. Life there is more rigid than you imagine, especially when the monsoon comes knocking. Not only are they grappling with the ramped-up rains, just like the rest of us, but they also have an extra challenge- their beautiful, icy glaciers are melting at a worrying pace because of global warming. This mix of extra rain and melting ice creates a recipe for disaster, resulting in terrifying flash floods. It's like balancing on a tightrope, with pitfalls on both sides. Life sure isn't easy for our friends in the mountains.

Imagine this: Besides the heavy monsoon rain, you also have extra water from melting glaciers. This deadly combination leads to flash floods that can sweep away everything in their path.

But we haven't stopped at creating just these two problems. We've gone a step further. By building extensively on the banks of rivers, we've significantly increased the risk of flash floods. When a flood occurs, the water has no room to spread. It's forced to rush downstream, leading to flash floods.

One look at the viral videos of the floods, and you can see the consequences of our actions. Once wide and calm, the rivers are now narrow and furious, contained between artificial obstructions.

Funny, isn't it? How quickly we forget. The floods come, and it's like a horror movie. We see homes washed away, lives lost, and whole towns underwater. It's chaos; it's heartbreak. It's fear. We swear we'll never forget.

But then, the rain stops—the water retreats. The sun shines again. We mop up. We rebuild, and we bury our dead. Life goes back to its normal rhythm. And somehow, that fear, that horror, it all just... fades.

We tuck away the memory of the disaster, shove it in some corner of our minds, and lock it up. We resume our lives, busying ourselves with the mundane routine. We go back to cutting down trees for our luxury condos. We go back to blocking the rivers' natural paths. We go back to our reckless, selfish ways, totally blind to the fact that our actions are digging our graves.
Then the skies darken again. The rains come back. The horror film plays once more. And we act surprised. We gasp, we cry, we curse the heavens. But the heavens aren't to blame. We are. And it's high time we realize this. It's high time we remember. Because if we don't, the cycle won't break. The floods will keep coming, each one worse than the last. And one day, there might be nothing left to rebuild.

Source: Edition

We're at a crossroads. We can only keep going the way we are if we want our kids and their kids to have a world to live in. We need to accept that our hands aren't clean in this. We've been part of the problem. But here's the hopeful bit - we're not helpless. We can turn things around. We can be part of the solution too. It's not easy, but the best things rarely are, right?

1. Address Climate Change:
We need to reduce our carbon footprint. This means burning fewer fossil fuels and stopping deforestation. We must also invest in renewable energy sources.

2. Improve Urban Planning:
Our cities need better drainage systems. We should design our cities with the monsoon season in mind, ensuring they can handle the heavy rainfall without causing much destruction.

3. Respect Floodplains:
These natural buffers are essential for preventing floods. We must stop encroaching on these areas and respect nature's defense mechanism.

We must remember the next time we see viral videos of flash floods. It's a warning. It's a result of our actions.
Our future, and the future of the generations to come, depends on what we do today. Let's make sure we make the right choices.