Out of the country's total geographical area of 329 million hectare, about 40 million hectare is prone to floods. Till March 2007, an area of 18.22 million hectare has been provided with protection against floods by way of construction of embankments, drainage channels, town protection works and raising on platforms.

The Union Government is providing Central assistance to the flood prone States to take up some of the critical works. The Central Government is also providing special assistance to the border and north eastern States for taking up certain priority works.

In order to mitigate the damages from floods, a nation wide Flood Forecasting and Warning System has been established by the Central Water Commission on interstate river basins and flood forecasts are being issued through 175 Stations, out of which 147 are river level forecasting Stations and 28 are inflow forecasting stations on major dams/reservoirs. Forecasts about (i) water levels in rivers likely to be attained as a result of floods and (ii) volume of inflow into reservoirs, are formulated and disseminated to various administrative authorities of Central Government, State Government and District Administration, media and other users on the basis of real time data.