Causes of Floods: A Case Study of Jalpaiguri District, West Bengal, India

Abstract: Throughout the human civilization, floods have been part of his destiny. Presently there are widely discussed of disasters and its results to enhance the public awareness and greater destruction caused by disaster (flood). Perhaps, flood is one of the most dramatic interactions between man and his environment. The sub-Himalayan West Bengal is experiencing the number destructive floods as the enumerable rivers of Sub Himalayan region are coming from different sources Himalayas lakes and snows which makes the rivers has always been liable to floods. The main reasons are the high floods are excessive rainfall within small duration in small catchments and continuous rainfall of several days in bigger catchments. The simultaneous melting of snow accumulated on high mountains and rainfall in lower reaches often caused floods of devastating nature (Sarkar S. et al. 2004).North Bengal is highly patches with an intensive network of river systems. Jalpaiguri district is highly affected due to the floods of this river which is mainly occurred by extensive and regular bank erosion, course shifting, snow melting, and drainage patterns. Thus the present paper is focusing on the causes of floods in Jalpaiguri district