225
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021
Rukhsana et al. (eds.), Habitat, Ecology and Ekistics, Advances in Asian
Human-Environmental Research, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-49115-4_13
Chapter 13
Flood Frequency Analysis and Its
Management in Selected Part
of Bardhaman District, West Bengal
Subodh Chandra Pal, Biswajit Das, Sadhan Malik, Manisa Shit,
and Rabin Chakrabortty
13.1 Introduction
Floods are undoubtedly one of the most dangerous natural hazards in the world,
especially in the monsoon dominated humid tropical region (Sanyal and Lu 2004).
It causes heavy damages to different sectors like agriculture, housing, industry,
infrastructure, etc. (Ali 2007; Hsu et al. 2011; Mirza 2011). It is difficult to predict
the occurrence and magnitude of floods. Unusual rainfall pattern due to climatic
variability and global warming is causing disaster like floods throughout the world
(Parry et al. 2007; Nwe and Tokuzo 2010). In the present condition, a lot of occurrences are going on like population explosion, deforestation, environmental degradation, urbanization, global warming, human encroachment, land use and land
cover change, etc. which have accelerated the intensity and frequency of flood more
and their concentration on hazard-prone areas make the impact of natural disasters
even worse (Alexander 1993). There are so many flood controlling measures which
have already been taken from very early, but now people do feel that the human
interference in the river valleys become important one reason behind flood. In this
region, the lower part of the Damodar River, flood is one of the major problems
from the very beginning. This river is classically known as Sorrow of Bengal which
had affected the entire lower Damodar Basin (Bagchi 1977; Bhattacharyya 2011;
Ghosh 2011). Construction of the Damodar Valley Corporation (DVC), a multipurpose project, has modified the high peak flood (above 12,744 m
3
s
−1
) and the duration of the flood (Ghosh 2013). Along with this massive diversion of river water into
canals gradually resulted in the decreasing of natural flow, de-linking of its
S. C. Pal (*) · B. Das · S. Malik · R. Chakrabortty
Department of Geography, The University of Burdwan, Burdwan, West Bengal, India
M. Shit
Jamini Roy College, Bankura, West Bengal, India
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021
Rukhsana et al. (eds.), Habitat, Ecology and Ekistics, Advances in Asian
Human-Environmental Research, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-49115-4_13
Chapter 13
Flood Frequency Analysis and Its
Management in Selected Part
of Bardhaman District, West Bengal
Subodh Chandra Pal, Biswajit Das, Sadhan Malik, Manisa Shit,
and Rabin Chakrabortty
13.1 Introduction
Floods are undoubtedly one of the most dangerous natural hazards in the world,
especially in the monsoon dominated humid tropical region (Sanyal and Lu 2004).
It causes heavy damages to different sectors like agriculture, housing, industry,
infrastructure, etc. (Ali 2007; Hsu et al. 2011; Mirza 2011). It is difficult to predict
the occurrence and magnitude of floods. Unusual rainfall pattern due to climatic
variability and global warming is causing disaster like floods throughout the world
(Parry et al. 2007; Nwe and Tokuzo 2010). In the present condition, a lot of occurrences are going on like population explosion, deforestation, environmental degradation, urbanization, global warming, human encroachment, land use and land
cover change, etc. which have accelerated the intensity and frequency of flood more
and their concentration on hazard-prone areas make the impact of natural disasters
even worse (Alexander 1993). There are so many flood controlling measures which
have already been taken from very early, but now people do feel that the human
interference in the river valleys become important one reason behind flood. In this
region, the lower part of the Damodar River, flood is one of the major problems
from the very beginning. This river is classically known as Sorrow of Bengal which
had affected the entire lower Damodar Basin (Bagchi 1977; Bhattacharyya 2011;
Ghosh 2011). Construction of the Damodar Valley Corporation (DVC), a multipurpose project, has modified the high peak flood (above 12,744 m
3
s
−1
) and the duration of the flood (Ghosh 2013). Along with this massive diversion of river water into
canals gradually resulted in the decreasing of natural flow, de-linking of its
S. C. Pal (*) · B. Das · S. Malik · R. Chakrabortty
Department of Geography, The University of Burdwan, Burdwan, West Bengal, India
M. Shit
Jamini Roy College, Bankura, West Bengal, India