Water woes

Monsoon fury unleashed by Cyclone Ditwah has once again exposed how vulnerable Sri Lanka and Tamil Nadu remain to extreme weather, despite years of experience with the northeast monsoon. Torrential rain, gale‑force winds and rough seas have battered coastal districts, inundating low‑lying neighbourhoods, disrupting power supply and crippling fishing and daily wage livelihoods. At the heart of this crisis lies a familiar failure: advance warnings may reach government offices, but preparedness on the ground still lags behind the ferocity of the changing climate.

For Sri Lanka, already reeling from economic strain, the cyclone’s impact is a harsh reminder that climate shocks strike the poorest first and hardest. When embankments are weak, drains clogged and informal settlements mushroom along riverbanks, even a single night of intense rain is enough to trigger landslides and flash floods.

Tamil Nadu, despite a stronger administrative apparatus, also slips into a reactive mode—closing schools and issuing advisories only after streets are flooded, transport is paralysed and rescue teams are stretched thin.The lesson from Cyclone Ditwah should be unambiguous: both governments must treat monsoon management as a year‑round mission, not a seasonal firefight. That means enforcing strict zoning in flood‑prone areas, investing in modern storm‑water systems, restoring wetlands and canals, and building resilient housing for the urban poor instead of temporary relief camps. It also demands transparent communication that respects science, not political spin. Unless the region learns to live with the monsoon intelligently—by planning for the worst while hoping for the best—each new cyclone will read like a grimly familiar editorial, written in the language of loss.