Flooding Kerala

In August over 200 people were killed in Kerala by the worst flooding to hit the Indian state in over 100 years. One reason for the dramatic flooding was that many of Kerala's hydroelectric dams were forced to release water with little warning to those who live downriver from the dams.

Reuters has been investigating why the waters in Kerala's dams were too high before the monsoon struck. In How Kerala's Dams Failed to Prevent Catastrophe the news organization has mapped the locations of all the state's dams and in particular the Idukki & Idamalayar reservoirs and the Periya River. Reuters argues that if the water levels in these two reservoirs had been lowered prior to the start of the monsoon then they could have coped with the rain that fell in the August storms.

Because the water levels in the Idukki & Idamalayar reservoirs were at 90% of their capacity before the August monsoon they both quickly reached capacity after the rains began. Both reservoirs were then forced to release water into the Periya River. The result was the severe flooding of communities living along the river.