Published Paper Details:

During the months of June, July, and August of 2018, the State of Kerala had very strong rainfall. This period coincides with the Southwest Monsoon rains, which are a crucial source of rainfall for the state's agriculture-dependent economic. Thiruvananthapuram (14), Alappuzha (11), Kollam (13), Ernakulam (8), Idukki (9), Kottayam (10), and Thrissur (7) were areas impacted. The water levels start to drop by July 21st, at which point people start returning home. Flooding has been greatly impacted by the geographical arrangement of the land and water. Damage has been caused by high tides and marine erosion in coastline belts. Rivers that have overflowed--there are 44 major rivers in the state plus their tributaries--have flooded nearby areas. Idukki, Palakkad, and Malappuram's highlands are highly vulnerable to landslides, which happen suddenly and release water that is subterranean. The Vembanad Lake serves as one of the main backwaters in the upper Kuttanad region, which causes periodical flooding there. It is drained by the Periyar, Achankovil, Meenachil, and Pamba, four significant rivers. Additionally, the region lies under the level of the sea. The fact that dam mismanagement contributed to the floods is another topic heavily covered in news stories from the period. In July, the dams did serve as flood cushions, storing water to regulate the flow of water in rivers below. Yet, the state's rainfall saw a break into the monsoon during the period of July 22 August 2, and during that time, dam administrators failed to take advantage of the opportunity to manipulate the water levels in the dams to effectively serve as flood cushions. Instead, they concentrated on retaining the most water in order to produce the most electricity. In this case, the dam management organization responded by retaining water in the dams until their FRLs, after the point at which they discharged water onto downstream rivers, after the state's water bodies were subjected to the stress of an excess 169% rainfall during the period of August 1-21, 2018. Since the majority of the state's large dams are situated in the south, they are unable to be taken into account while examining the effects of flooding in Northern Kerala, particularly in Wayanad, Malappuram, and Palakkad. The Mullaperiyar dam, which is situated in Kerala but shares waters with Tamil Nadu, has its operating manual with Kerala, which the Tamil Nadu government has been slow to provide. The state government of Tn continued on holding onto water even after receiving an order from the Supreme Court to lower its water level below the 142-foot Flood Risk Level. Kerala is extremely concerned about the delay and the brittleness of the coordination and management of the Mullaperiyar waters, both now and in future periods