Adapt to intense heat waves and flooding

Trapped in a giant greenhouse

Different regions of the world have been experiencing intense and prolonged heat wave conditions and wildfires. Highest daily temperature records in many places have been breached. Simultaneously, some regions are witnessing cloud bursts, incessant rains and landslides taking a toll on lives, livelihoods and properties. Despite repeated warnings from scientists, world leaders have done very little to prepare countries for adaptation. They have also failed to take adequate action to cut greenhouse gas emissions and halt further warming of the planet.

This year, it started when the northern part of India experienced heat waves in March and April resulting in a 7.5% fall in wheat production. The country announced a sudden halt of wheat exports that triggered reactions from world over. Wheat prices fell in the domestic market and the growers had to lose out financially. Maybe the Government of India had to control inflation on food grains and did not want wheat prices to go up particularly when Assembly elections are due in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh in a few months.

There was a surge in power demand due to unprecedented heat. People in air conditioned houses had to run all their ACs 24x7. It brought pressure on thermal power stations to procure coal at higher prices to produce more electricity to match demand. We had to increase our coal import. Caught in a vicious cycle, we burn more fossil fuel to meet the increased power demand and thus increase greenhouse gas emissions. More CO2 released into the atmosphere leads to more warming of the planet, and thus more heat wave conditions.

The Himalayan region and the western part of the country faced cloud bursts and incessant rains that caused landslides and flooding in rural and urban areas. One such cloud burst in the Kashmir valley washed away several pandals and tents set up for pilgrims during the Amarnath Yatra resulting in loss of lives and property. Landslides and flooding in other regions also brought misery to people.

NDRF and SDRF teams along with respective district administrations have been doing a marvellous job in rescue and relief operations in India, but this is not enough. The government should educate people to adapt our living with more resilient and weatherproof housing infrastructure.

In July 2022, heat wave conditions were prevalent in parts of the globe like China, Russia, Europe and US. There have been more destructive wild fires and forest fires in all the regions. Many of the fires have not been controlled for weeks. In the third week of July, the temperature breached the 40 degree C-mark in the UK. More than 0.5 million ha of forests in Spain, Portugal and France were burnt down. Temperatures also soared and broke all records in the US in the last week of July. Nearly 66 million people living in large sections of Midwest US including Kansas, Missouri and Oklahoma, along with southern California to the coast of North Carolina are facing the level of heat that approached or broke the record of daily temperatures. The Boston Triathlon was postponed due to weather conditions. Power consumption has gone up across the globe and more fossil fuel burning is evident.

Adaptation

Closed windows in non-airconditioned houses during the day in such weather conditions trap heat to bring discomfort during nights; homes, schools and hospitals should be insulated during the day and windows can remain open at nights. Builders in cold countries should be educated to take into account the frequent and lasting heat waves and need for proper windows and insulating walls for all-season protection. Urban greening is essential for cooling, besides helping soil and water conservation and carbon sequestration.

Forest fires that are rampant in the US, Europe and Russia are often not intentionally set off by humans. However, the source of several fires can be traced to the negligence of people. It has been observed by scientists that if glass objects are lying outside the house during a hot summer day it can ignite fire in dry grasses around and given the high temperature and wind velocity, the fire becomes uncontrollable.

Global rise in temperature has been triggering evaporation from sea, giving rise to increased water vapour in the atmosphere. Studies have revealed that rainfall increases exponentially with water vapour increase. The civic body of Mumbai had earlier designed storm-water drains and related infrastructure to take care of 25 mm of rains in an hour. Severe flooding repeatedly occurring during the past several years has forced them to remodel their drainage system to take care of more intense rains up to 50 mm per hour. However places like Mumbai, Ratnagiri, Satara, and Mahabaleshwar have registered 80 to 100 mm of rains per hour. Other regions of the country have similar stories.All civic authorities in cities like Mumbai, Chennai, Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Delhi, and Gurugram should remodel their drainage system to take care of 100 mm of rains per hour. People resort to pumping out flood water trapped in the basements of the houses; it is advisable to construct a sump underneath so that water is harvested and used.

The encroachments on storm water drains as well as on lake beds should be removed. Further, drains should be regularly cleaned so that plastics, polythene bags and silt etc are removed and disposed of at far off places. The lakes in the cities are balancing reservoirs where water level should be regulated by opening the sluice gates. De-weeding and de-siltation of lakes is also required to be done periodically to ensure that the water reservoirs are kept clean up to the maximum flood level. All the inlets of the lakes are monitored to ensure that none carry untreated sewage into it. Let all urban lakes have sewage treatment plants to prevent sewage entering people’s houses at the time of flash floods. The adaptation measures can only provide short term solutions. Permanent solution is to check fossil fuel burning and develop green energy infrastructure for quick transition.

(The writer is Retired Principal
Chief Conservator of Forests
(Head of Forest Force), Karnataka)