About 72 percent of the districts in India have been exposed to extreme floods, the Council on Energy Environment and Water (CEEW), a policy research think tank, has stated.
According to the CEEW, twelve Indian states, including Uttar Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Odisha, West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Goa and Bihar, are highly exposed to extreme flood events. However, only three -- Uttar Pradesh, Assam and Bihar -- have a high availability of flood early warning systems (EWS).
Meanwhile, Delhi and the Himalayan state of Uttarakhand are moderately exposed to extreme flood events but have a high availability of flood EWS. The hilly state of Himachal Pradesh, which is also witnessing devastating flooding at present, is among the states with the lowest availability of EWS.
The report has come at a time when many of the north and east Indian states are witnessing massive downpours and heavy floods, landslides and other outbreaks.
"A district-level analysis revealed that while 72 percent of districts in India are exposed to extreme flood events, merely 25 percent of these exposed districts have level flood forecasting stations. This means that two-third of individuals in India are exposed to extreme flood events, and only one-third of them have flood EWS," the report further added.