Kerala 2018: Rainfall, dams and flood
August 2018, saw the greatest flood in south Indian state of Kerala, due to unusually high rainfall in monsoon season. Over 483 people died, 14 are missing and at least a million people were evacuated. The event was declared a level 3 calamity by Indian government.
According to wikipedia, in the evening of 8th August, Kerala received heavy monsoon rainfall which was 256% more than the usual rainfall it receives. 35 out of 54 dams were opened as the water went close to the overflow level over a short period of next few days.
With media flooded by different opinions and claims, there was a necessity to answer some of the basic questions that arose but was left unanswered. Questions which intrigued me were:
Why were flood gates not opened any sooner, when the first forecast released by IMD was on 2nd August? What could have been the situation of the dams before they were released as the rain intensified and the conditions before and after the warning.
This visualization tries to analyse the relationship between the water storage level of the dams, before and after the flood of August,2018, as a part of Data visualization course at IDC School of Design.
Do visit the link for the working visualization: Kerala 2018: Rainfall, dams and flood
