25 Years Of Floods: What India's Human And Economic Losses Look Like

Floods continue to affect parts of north India, with Bihar now facing a serious situation as the Ganga has crossed its previous highest recorded level at Patna's Gandhi Ghat. The Ganga, Gandak, Kosi, Budhi Gandak, Punpun and Ghaghra are flowing above danger levels at several locations, while more than 16.8 lakh people across 11 Bihar districts have been affected. The state has deployed rescue teams and nearly 700 boats in flood-hit areas.

Uttar Pradesh is also dealing with flooding. As of September 4, 26 districts had been affected, with around 3.53 lakh people impacted and more than 17,500 evacuated. The state had deployed 1,697 boats and motorboats and set up 1,312 relief shelters.

Because of heavy rain Delhi and Gurgaon is also suffering from waterlogging issues. But the data from the past 26 years gives a sense of how large the problem has been for the country.

36,103 Deaths In 26 Years

Between 2000 and 2025, floods killed 36,103 people in India, according to Emergency Events Database (EM-DAT). The numbers have been very different from one year to another. 2013 was by far the worst year, with 6,453 deaths. In several other years, the death count crossed 2,000.

The recent numbers are lower. EM-DAT recorded 285 flood deaths in 2024 and 405 in 2025. That is a big difference from some of the years when floods caused thousands of deaths.

But deaths are only one part of the story. Much more people have had their lives disrupted by floods.

36.5 Crore People Affected

About 36.5 crore people were affected by floods between 2000 and 2025, according to the same dataset, which is equivalent to nearly 25 per cent of India's current population. The biggest number came in 2000, when 5.01 crore people were affected. The figure was 4.2 crore in 2002 and 3.81 crore in 2007.

The numbers have come down in some recent years, although there have been spikes. In 2018, 2.31 crore people were affected, while the figure was 1.08 crore in 2023.

There are several possible reasons for the lower numbers in some recent years, including better flood warnings, evacuation and infrastructure.

More Stations To Watch The Rivers

India has also built a much larger system to monitor rivers. The Central Water Commission (CWC) now has 340 flood-forecasting stations across 20 river systems, compared with around 149 stations in 2000.

Uttar Pradesh has the largest network, with 44 stations, followed by Bihar with 43 and Assam with 30. Together, the three states have 117 stations.

The system is also being used more actively. CWC issued 10,442 flood forecasts in 2024, with 95.45 per cent of them within the prescribed accuracy limits.

$76.95 Billion In Reported Damage

Floods have also left a large bill behind. EM-DAT records $76.95 billion in reported economic damage between 2000 and 2025.

Again, the losses are concentrated in a few years. 2014 was the worst, with reported damage of $16.47 billion. The losses reached another $10 billion in 2019 and $11.51 billion in 2020.

The reported numbers drop sharply after that from $4.2 billion in 2022 to $2.2 million in 2025.