When officials warn of a “medium”, “high”, “very high” or “exceptionally high” flood, what does that actually mean?

Flood intensity is not judged by one number alone. It depends on the size of each river and how much water it can normally carry. Smaller rivers such as the Ravi and Sutlej reach critical levels quickly — 200,000 cusecs here is already “very high flood”.

Officials use categories to describe the severity of flooding:

Medium flood: The river is within capacity but under pressure.

High flood: Water far exceeds normal limits, threatening banks, farmland and villages.

Very high flood: Extreme pressure where engineers may need to breach embankments or canals to save a barrage.

Exceptionally high flood: The most dangerous category, when water flow is far beyond a river’s design capacity and poses a risk to major infrastructure and large populations.

Read more here.