Flood Management in Assam , INDIA : A review of Brahmaputra Floods , 2012 (original) (raw)

Brahmaputra is an important river for irrigation and transportation in the state of Assam, India. About 2,900 km long and with an average depth of 38 m mighty river is prone to catastrophic flooding in spring when the Himalayan snows melt. The average discharge of the river is about 19,300 cubic metres per second and floods can reach over 100,000 cubic metres per second. It is a classic example of a braided river and is highly susceptible to channel migration and avulsion. It is also one of the few rivers in the world that exhibit a tidal bore. The river drains the Himalaya east of the Indo-Nepal border, southerncentral portion of the Tibetan plateau above the Ganges basin, south-eastern portion of Tibet, the Patkai-Bum hills, the northern slopes of the Meghalaya hills, the Assam plains and the northern portion of Bangladesh. The basin, especially south of Tibet is characterized by high level of rainfall. Present study is an account of the devastation caused by the flooding in the B...