Word: kosy
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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Although flooding has recently become commonplace in India - in 2008, over 3 million people were displaced when the Kosi river in Bihar burst its banks - but this year's deluge came as a shock because if followed a protracted drought, and a monsoon season branded a dud by the authorities. To experts who've tracked the effects of climate change, however, the flooding came as no surprise. In its fourth assessment report in 2007, the Inter- Government Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) predicted that more extreme droughts, floods, and storms, would become commonplace in the future, and that these intense...
There was one thing different about this year's monsoon in India. As in so many seasons past, the annual rains began in June, flooding streets and villages and claiming dozens of lives. But when the Kosi River burst its banks on Aug. 18 in the northeastern state of Bihar, the destruction was much worse than anyone expected. "It is not a normal flood, but a catastrophe," Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar told reporters after flying over the affected areas...
...Kumar may have inherited a disaster waiting to happen. He reportedly showed the Prime Minister's office satellite photos indicating that the river had slowly been changing course for years, but that the previous administration failed to reinforce the areas where embankments were coming under increased pressure. Because the Kosi River lies along Bihar's border with Nepal and initially breached on the Nepali side, whatever efforts Kumar did make may have been slowed down. The Indian Express newspaper reported that Kumar sought help from the central government in getting Nepal's co-operation, but was rebuffed...