This year in mid-July, the Baghmati, Budhi Gandhak and Lakhandai went into spate in Bihar. In Assam, several districts were engulfed by the waters of the Brahmaputra. Uttarakhand experienced flash floods and waters surged in Uttar Pradesh, Orissa, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. When this issue went to press more than 2,000 people had lost their lives and there was widespread damage to crops and property in what has been described by the UN as worst floods experienced by the country in living memory. How grave are matters exactly? Have the relief measures been adequate? Could we have done more than arrange ad hoc relief? How adequate is our understanding of floods? Down To Earth attempts to understand