Govt. Plans to Launch Flood Warning System

The Department of Hydrology and Meteorology (DoHM) has begun the test of weather-based flood warning system with an aim to give adequate time to apply safety measures before a flood occurs in downstream and other possible areas, reports The Himalayan Times.

This system is an upgrade to the current 72-hour based old short-range weather forecasting system.

After this, it will be possible in the country to make weather predictions with up to 100 per cent accuracy. It would be easy to predict flood in a particular region on the basis of the intensity of precipitation.

Rishi Ram Sharma, Director General at the DoHM said, “The flood warning system will give information about possible flood three days before it gets triggered.”

The new system will make it possible to predict the place, time and quantity of rainfall by observing cloud formation through radar and radiosonde balloons.

Sharma said that having ample time before flood will make it easy to apply safety measures, such as vacating of flood-risk areas, preventing possible casualties and losses.

The system is to be formally launched after the test.

The department has been collecting flood-related data from stations across the country. There are multiple channels dedicated to conveying emergency alerts related to flood to these stations. People get the alerts from a few minutes to hours’ time ahead of the flood.