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Quoting from 'The Hindu' of 27 August 2018.
Excerpts from an interview with
Mr. M.Rajeevan, Secretary, Ministry of Earth Sciences at
New Delhi
"In Kerala the rivers are relatively small. For instance if it rains in a hilly region, it can flood within 25 minutes and in an hour the water will come. Rivers like Cauvery and Narmada have huge basins and such inundations are much slower.
As far as Kerala is concerned, in August we had two spells - on the 4th and the 14th - and both were captured by our short range weather prediction system. Each of them were forecast three days in advance. We(The India Meteorological Department) gave a forecast for heavy rains district-wise - in the form of orange and red alerts.
A 'red alert' means that you must initiate action. It means that the IMD is expecting heavy rains, so State officials shouldn't just be waiting. "
To the question "Typically our authorities don't strongly react based on a red alert alone ..." the reply is in the inverted commas.
" That's a different issue but from the IMD's side, we've already warned. An 'orange' means be on alert and a 'red' means take action. So for instance, if a dam is full and you've been warned of heavy rains, then that means you should have been careful. Unfortunately, I have been given to understand that Kerala has no flood warning system. The Central Water Commission(CWC) doesn't have a flood warning station in Kerala.
Well it's said that this kind of a calamity hasn't happened in the past anywhere. As I said the focus (by the CWC) is on large rivers and especially those that traverse multiple states. The point is that, any river can be flooded and any place can be flooded.
I am not blaming individuals, institutions or government but it's a fact that in India, none of our reservoirs are managed using a scientific, decision - support system. It's left to a few individuals to take a decision.
Dams are managed by States and they worry about their own personal requirements such as hydro - power management.
You (dam managers) should know that (in the case of Kerala this year) it's July, the dams are full, there are two months of monsoon left ... I'll stop at that and don't want to interpret further.
Decisions should be made by talking to the meteorological office, factoring inputs. I don't think there's such a mechanism in place."
Excerpts from an interview with
Mr. M.Rajeevan, Secretary, Ministry of Earth Sciences at
New Delhi
"In Kerala the rivers are relatively small. For instance if it rains in a hilly region, it can flood within 25 minutes and in an hour the water will come. Rivers like Cauvery and Narmada have huge basins and such inundations are much slower.
As far as Kerala is concerned, in August we had two spells - on the 4th and the 14th - and both were captured by our short range weather prediction system. Each of them were forecast three days in advance. We(The India Meteorological Department) gave a forecast for heavy rains district-wise - in the form of orange and red alerts.
A 'red alert' means that you must initiate action. It means that the IMD is expecting heavy rains, so State officials shouldn't just be waiting. "
To the question "Typically our authorities don't strongly react based on a red alert alone ..." the reply is in the inverted commas.
" That's a different issue but from the IMD's side, we've already warned. An 'orange' means be on alert and a 'red' means take action. So for instance, if a dam is full and you've been warned of heavy rains, then that means you should have been careful. Unfortunately, I have been given to understand that Kerala has no flood warning system. The Central Water Commission(CWC) doesn't have a flood warning station in Kerala.
Well it's said that this kind of a calamity hasn't happened in the past anywhere. As I said the focus (by the CWC) is on large rivers and especially those that traverse multiple states. The point is that, any river can be flooded and any place can be flooded.
I am not blaming individuals, institutions or government but it's a fact that in India, none of our reservoirs are managed using a scientific, decision - support system. It's left to a few individuals to take a decision.
Dams are managed by States and they worry about their own personal requirements such as hydro - power management.
You (dam managers) should know that (in the case of Kerala this year) it's July, the dams are full, there are two months of monsoon left ... I'll stop at that and don't want to interpret further.
Decisions should be made by talking to the meteorological office, factoring inputs. I don't think there's such a mechanism in place."
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