After the 1998 flood that submerged 30 per cent of the city, authorities went into a huddle. They had to be better prepared for floods. There was Ukai dam, 200 km away that was built precisely this reason—to protect the city that was fast becoming a diamond and textile hub from floods.

The stakes were higher: from 1970 when the dam was built, the population of Surat and its satllite had tripled to five million.

As a first measure, after consultations with the Central Water Commission, the warning level was reduced from 10.5 m to 9.5 m to afford more time to administrators to prepare for any flooding of Surat.

But this time, it is now clear, is not enough. The floods this past week have been the worst-ever—categorised as ‘unprecedented’ in flood jargon. By August 7 morning, 8-10 lakh cusecs of water had been released from the Ukai reservoir into the city.

Ukai’s catchment area is largely the Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh border region which had received heavy rains. In addition, Gujarat had received 954 mm of rain compared with a season’s normal of 863 mm. Nineteen of 25 districts received 100 percent more rain than normal. The bulk of this rain fell over a span of two days.

On Sunday, August 6, people in low lying areas were warned and shifted by local authorities. It took five hours for the water to reach Surat. The authorities still thought that the upper reaches would not be flooded. In a few hours as the entire city was covered with water, the administration had realilsed it had clearly miscalculated.

... contd.