News sections
  • Forests
  • Animals
  • Oceans
  • People
  • Rivers
  • Solutions
  • Opportunities
  • Mongabay Global
  • About
    Language
  • English
  • Español (Spanish)
  • Français (French)
  • Bahasa Indonesia (Indonesian)
  • Brasil (Portuguese)
  • India (हिंदी)

Photos: Flood of memories

by Kartik Chandramouli on 31 December 2018
  • Amherst Street, a two-km stretch in central Kolkata, is one of 347 identified major waterlogging pockets in the city.
  • Kolkata qualifies as one of the coastal cities most vulnerable to climate change in the world.
  • This photo feature captures the life of people of Amherst Street who seem to have reconciled to the fact that seasonal flooding is something they have to live with and adjust to.

On September 24, 2007, the Wanderers Stadium, Johannesburg, South Africa was awash in celebration as a young M.S. Dhoni led India to a win in the first ever ICC World Twenty20 cricket competition. 8448 kilometres away in cricket-mad Kolkata, India, capital of the eastern state of West Bengal, fans were too preoccupied to notice.

“The day Dhoni won the World Cup, I was in waist deep water,” said Amol Khanra, owner of a fabric and tailoring shop established in 1946 on Amherst Street, in central Kolkata. “Not that it was anything new – every year, at least two or three times, this area gets flooded. But that year, the rain was unusually heavy and the flooding was much worse.

“Usually the water here rises to 10, 12 inches two or three times every monsoon. That year, it rose to around 36 inches.”

“This is a low-lying area,” said Vijaykumar Patra, who first moved to Amherst Street 17 years ago. “It rains continuously for about an hour, hour and a half and the street gets flooded. But people know that the water will come and go.”

Longtime residents – shop owners and those who dwell on the footpath alike – point out that the street is lower than the surrounding area, forming a sort of teaspoon-shaped depression. The streets surrounding Amherst Street, all higher, become conduits during the monsoon, with the water flowing along those streets and cascading into the depression that is the 2-km stretch of Amherst Street. “Also, the sewerage system dates back to the British era,” said Partha Malik, who owns a provision store. “It’s a man-made problem. The KMC (Kolkata Municipal Corporation) is trying, but the reality is that water flows from all over into this street.”

The issue is not unique to this locality in Kolkata, though. It is just one of 347 identified major waterlogging pockets in the KMC area.

The city has a flat terrain, which slopes very subtly away from the river Hooghly, from west to east. Such landscapes make it difficult for the drainage to move water out, without the use of pumps. Exacerbating the problem are issues with the underground drainage systems that were built around 100 to 140 years ago.

“The pipes in the underground system are not big enough to carry the water discharge generated by the increasing number of households, plus the rain water during monsoon,” explained Dhrubajyoti Sen, a professor with the department of civil engineering, IIT Kharagpur. “The runoff generated due to rainfall has increased over the years due to increase in impervious surface of the city, which has been a direct effect of urbanisation.”

While the authorities have been installing high capacity pumps and clearing the heavy siltation in the pipes, Sen said that without increasing the diameter of the pipes, the issue can’t be solved. This poses another challenge – it is next to impossible to re-engineer, from scratch, a drainage network situated below 4.5 million people in a rapidly developing city. “The drains are choked with plastic,” said Yagna Tiwari, pointing towards the storm-water drain from his elevated tea stall.

Over the last few years, with a better-equipped drainage and pumping station, the water recedes faster in Amherst Street – and the collective anxiety is also relatively short-lived. “Earlier it used to be flooded for 2 to 3 days, but now it’s just for 5 to 6 hours,” said Dilip Sen, who owns a shop selling bangles. “The Thanthania pumping station has helped.”

A densely populated Kolkata qualifies as one of the most vulnerable coastal cities in the world, with its residents increasingly exposed to rising sea levels, a sinking Indian Bengal Delta, frequent storm surges and varying rainfall patterns. In an attempt to make the city more resilient to climate, the KMC is testing a sensor-based flood forecasting and early warning system.

While such technologies can help Amherst Street stay afloat, anticipation of a waterlogged street prompts people to do their own monsoon planning. “When vehicles pass by on the flooded street, they make waves in their wake and that water enters our shop,” said Amol Khanra. “This year, we are thinking of making a barrier wall of around 2 feet at the entrance.”

People in the area appear reconciled to the fact that seasonal flooding is something they have to live with and adjust to. “I don’t fear anything here in Kolkata, not even the gunda giri (hooliganism),” summarises Partha Malik. “I only fear the rains.”

Narayank Chakravarthy, 60, street-dweller, supplies artwork on rent
“The wooden frame always gets spoilt. A lot of people lose their artworks in the floods. Some had to move out from here too.”
Rajadas, 46, motorbike garage owner
“Every year the garage gets damaged due to waterlogging. We shift the bikes somewhere else. This year, we inverted this bench to make a barrier and protect our garage from water.”
Sanjay Saha, 41, photo-studio owner
“Water is our biggest trouble. I lost my new Xerox machine worth Rs. 65,000. The walls get damaged and dirty every season. So I made the lower half darker. The KMC does a good job, but the drainage system itself is faulty. I’m certain that there’s no solution to this.”
Aarti Sahani, 30, street-dweller
“The moment we see that the rains are increasing, we pack our belongings and tie it somewhere at a height. We then move to a location that’s dryer and higher.”
Vijaykumar Patra, 50, laboratory specimen and equipment supplier
“It rains continuously for 1.5 hours and the street gets flooded. But people know that it’ll come and go. Once, I was sleeping down on the floor. Water just needs a small hole to seep in. Through some small hole in the wall water gushed in. By the time we realised and started folding our sheets, it was all wet. This was in 2000-2001. I had just moved here. Initially it was difficult but then it became a habit.”
S.K. Jamir Ali, 47, pump operator
“When the streets are flooded, our work obviously increases. A lot of garbage comes with the water. The people used to come here the moment the street started getting waterlogged. Now they know that we’ll sort it in 3 or 4 hours. Protests and bandhs all these don’t affect us. The pumping station is always open.”
Sunil Sharma, 42, barber
“I waded through the floodwater once and got malaria. It took more than a week to get better. Those 3 monsoon months are very difficult. But I’m not alone to suffer.”

Reporting for this story was conducted as part of the National Geographic Society’s 2018 Out of Eden Journalism Workshop in Kolkata.

Article published by Kartik Chandramouli
Cities and Towns, Climate Change, Monsoons

Print button
PRINT

Special series

Wetland Champions

  • [Commentary] India establishes the largest network of Ramsar Sites in South Asia
  • [Commentary] Wetland champions: Promise from the grassroots
  • The story of Jakkur lake sets an example for inclusive rejuvenation projects
  • Welcome to Tsomgo lake: Please don’t litter
Wetland Champions
More articles

Environment And Health

  • Gig workers in India are exposed to highly polluted air and carcinogens, finds preliminary study
  • [Explainer] Living with microplastics, is not fantastic
  • Residents in Haryana point to stone crushing units for their respiratory troubles and drop in crop yield
  • As heatwaves projected to worsen across India, do vulnerability assessments and heat action plans suffice?
Environment And Health
More articles

Almost Famous Species

  • Hybridisation, roadkills are major threats for the Indian desert cat population
  • From abundance to endangerment to revival, Kachchh’s guggal comes a full circle
  • [Commentary] Why are evolutionary scientists studying the crawlies?
  • The silent trade of elusive small cats in Mizoram
Almost Famous Species
More articles

Eco Hope

  • Green pilgrimage model balances faith and conservation
  • [Video] Restoring the perennial Thamirabarani river with people power
  • [Interview] Conservation scientist Joli Rumi Borah on integrating traditional knowledge in research
  • [Interview] Scientist Ruth DeFries on deforestation: There isn’t one driver, there’s a different context in different places
Eco Hope
More articles

India's Iconic Landscapes

  • Studies reveal impact of land use on species diversity in rock outcrops
  • Improved tiger numbers come with hidden messages on invasives, habitat connectivity
  • Gymnosperms that are critical for coniferous forest health may be steadily declining in response to climate change
  • Experts call for coexistence, sustainable development as tiger population is close to saturation
India's Iconic Landscapes
More articles

Beyond Protected Areas

  • Hybridisation, roadkills are major threats for the Indian desert cat population
  • [Video] Farmers grow paddy for wild elephants in Assam to reduce conflicts
  • Megaherbivores could be a potential solution to manage invasive plants, finds study
  • Darkness-loving bats are being nudged out of the shadows
Beyond Protected Areas
More articles

Conserving Agro-biodiversity

  • Excavating farmlands for highways
  • Increasing carbon dioxide is making our food less nutritious
  • Ecosystem-based adaptation takes nature-based, people-centric approach to agriculture
  • [Commentary] How grassroots-led natural farming at the landscape scale can support communities and heal the planet
Conserving Agro-biodiversity
More articles

Just Transitions

  • With no primary data on impacts, government approves an oil extraction technique 500 m outside forests
  • Climate action not on track to meet Paris Agreement goals, says Global Stocktake report
  • [Interview] Suravee Nayak on why transformative justice for women, Dalits is key for a just transition
  • Promised rehabilitation eludes residents living near one of India’s earliest coal mines
Just Transitions
More articles

About Mongabay-India

Mongabay-India is a conservation and environment news and features service that aims to bring high quality, original reports from nature’s frontline in India.

Other Mongabay Websites

  • Mongabay.org
  • Mongabay Global
  • Mongabay Kids
  • Mongabay Indonesia
  • Wild Madagascar
  • Mongabay LATAM

Social Channels

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • YouTube

Information

  • About Mongabay-India
  • Copyright & Terms of Use
  • Privacy Policy
  • Advertising
  • Contact Us

© 2023 Copyright Mongabay-India

Subscribe To Our Weekly Newsletter

Get fact-checked science and environment news from India in your inbox every Saturday!

You have Successfully Subscribed!