Chennai: Tamil Nadu chief minister MK Stalin sent a letter to Uniojn home ministry, highlighting the shortcomings in forecasts made by India Meteorological Department (IMD). He also called for additional investments in advanced weather prediction mechanism. The letter was sent after intense rains in the state on December 30 and 31.
“I request the Government of India to do the needful to enhance the capacity of IMC, Chennai to enable it to make predictions of high alert situations earlier and notify the same to the state government well in time.”
Tamil Nadu’s capital Chennai and nearby areas witnessed heavy rainfall on the last two days of 2021.
In his letter to Union home minister Amit Shah, Stalin said that the alerts from the IMC in Chennai were used by the state government in preparing for disaster situations. “We have, however, noted that IMC is unable to predict red alert situation sufficiently in advance giving hardly any time,” he said.
He also said that the shortcoming of the IMC’s capability to provide accurate information was hindering the state’s efforts towards the timely mobilisation of the emergency management system. “This results in total disruption of normal life, movement of health care support systems and also causing loss of lives and damages to critical infrastructure,” he added.
Noting that this necessitated additional investments in advanced weather prediction mechanism and technology upgrade in the IMC. “In this regard, I request the Government of India to do the needful to enhance the capacity of IMC, Chennai to enable it to make predictions of high alert situations earlier and notify the same to the State Government well in time,” he said.
Meanwhile, some parts of Chennai complained of waterlogging on Saturday, two days after swift, heavy rains pounded the city on Thursday night and dispersed, moderate rains on Friday. Residents complained on Twitter about stagnant rain water in many streets and localities across the city, despite a let-up in rains since Friday night.
Former Tamil Nadu CM and opposition All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) leader Edappadi K Palaniswami criticised the ruling DMK and said that Chennai was inundated after just one day’s heavy rains.
He also said that the government should have been prepared for the situation, particularly after the recent floods in the city due to the northeast monsoon.
Following the heavy rain on Thursday night, office goers complained of traffic jams in many arterial roads in the city.
The IMD, meanwhile, predicted that there would be isolated heavy to very heavy rainfall over coastal Tamil Nadu and the neighbouring Union territory of Puducherry for the next 24 hours and would then decrease.
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