Lessons from the October rain

It's frightening to even imagine how we'll cope with the problem 10 years from now.

A little over a week after the Department of Hydrology and Meteorology announced the withdrawal of the monsoon from the country and, therefore, the suspension of daily flood forecasts and flood bulletins for the remainder of the year, an unusual western disturbance slammed into the Himalayan range, triggering extremely heavy spells of rain in the middle of October.