Abstract
Extreme precipitation and flooding cause large-scale impacts on people, and are further intensified by rapid urbanization, infrastructure expansion, and large numbers of people residing in informal settlements in destitute conditions. This underscores the need to characterize the impacts of extreme precipitation on different stakeholders and help formulate policies and plans to mitigate them. The focus of this paper is on characterizing and analyzing the impacts of extreme precipitation events at the micro level on vulnerable households and small and medium-sized enterprises in three locations in India: Mumbai, Chennai, and Puri district. These areas have faced devastating extreme rainfall events in recent years and offer critical insights into asset the exposure of, and direct and indirect impacts on, urban and rural entities. The flood impact analysis in this paper provides a multidimensional view with quantitative damage estimates and qualitative insights into the devastation and distress caused. It also highlights the heterogeneity of flood impacts and the potential to push the poor into a debt trap and further poverty.
Highlights
India’s geophysical and climatic conditions make it one of the most disaster-prone countries in the world
The impacts are further intensified by socioeconomic factors such as population increase, rapid urbanization, infrastructure expansion, and large numbers of people residing in informal settlements in poor and destitute conditions
To evaluate the impacts of extreme precipitation on exposed and vulnerable groups, some of the most extreme events in recent history in terms of intensity and magnitude were selected in each location
Summary
India’s geophysical and climatic conditions make it one of the most disaster-prone countries in the world. The impacts are further intensified by socioeconomic factors such as population increase, rapid urbanization, infrastructure expansion, and large numbers of people residing in informal settlements in poor and destitute conditions. This underscores the need to characterize the impacts of extreme precipitation on different stakeholders and formulate policies and action plans to mitigate them. Studies conducted by the author in Mumbai, studies carried out by researchers in Chennai, and impact assessment done by government agencies in Puri are extensively used in this paper This offers a multidimensional view of flood impacts with quantitative estimates and qualitative insights into devastation and distress suffered by different stakeholders. This study specially focuses on understanding how and why different stakeholders, such as households and SMEs, are impacted during extreme precipitation and floods
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