Monsoon Flooding: A Family Preparedness Checklist

Before the season: one weekend of preparation

Disaster response teams repeat one lesson from every flood: the families who cope best prepared before the water rose. Set aside one weekend before the monsoon and work through this list.

• Documents: keep Aadhaar, property papers, insurance and medical records in a waterproof pouch on an upper shelf — and photograph everything to cloud storage.
• Go-bag: three days of medicines, a torch, power bank, whistle, drinking water, dry rations, and cash in small notes. One bag per family, ready to lift.
• Know your ground: learn whether your locality has flooded before, where the nearest relief shelter is, and which route to it stays on high ground.
• Utilities: know how to switch off mains electricity and gas. Most flood-season electrocutions happen inside homes.

When water starts rising

Move people first, possessions second. Never walk through moving water above ankle height — fifteen centimetres of flowing water can knock an adult down, and open drains become invisible. Do not drive through flooded stretches; most flood deaths in cities involve vehicles.

Getting help

Raise an SOS through OneSOS and the request reaches the disaster-response teams operating in your district, with your live location attached. If networks are congested, SMS and the 112 helpline remain the fallback — save both before the season starts.