India to give flash flood warning to Asian nations - Pragnya IAS Academy - News Analysis.

India to give flash flood warning to Asian nations.

Test version is being tried out by the Meteorological Dept.

India has been designated as a nodal centre for preparing flash-flood forecasts by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO).

That means India will have to develop a customised model that can issue advance warning of floods in Vietnam, Sri Lanka, Myanmar and Thailand, according to Dr. Madhavan Rajeevan, Secretary, Ministry of Earth Sciences.
On the sidelines of the Earth Sciences Foundation Day, Dr. Rajeevan said the IMD would be working to customise a weather model, developed by the United States and donated to the WMO, to warn of flash floods at least six hours in advance.
Six hours before
A test version of this, according to Dr. Rajeevan, was being tried out by the IMD, and that was able to give a flood warning about an hour in advance.
Using a combination of satellite mapping and ground-based observation, this system — called the Flash Flood Guidance System — aims to provide forecasts six hours in advance.
Like India, several southeast Asian countries depend on the monsoon and are prone to its vagaries. The proposed model would provide forecasts by computing the likelihood of rainfall and the soil moisture levels to warn of possible floods, he said. Though Pakistan was among the list of countries that would benefit from the forecast, it had refused to participate in the scheme, Dr. Rajeevan added.
While the science to warn of floods could be developed, India was yet to work out how exactly it would warn countries of potential inundation. India currently has a warning system for tsunamis that also doubles up a warning system for several Asian countries.
The Central Water Commission, which monitors India’s dams, warns of rising water levels in the reservoirs, which are usually taken to be signs of imminent floods. The organisation has recently tied up with Google to develop a software application to visualise rising water levels during heavy rains.
The WMO says flash floods account for 85% of flooding incidents across the world, causing some 5,000 deaths each year. (Source: The Hindu)


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India to give flash flood warning to Asian nations.

India Meteorological Department to use flash flood guidance system for first time to forecast floods - Pragnya IAS Academy - News Analysis.

India Meteorological Department to use flash flood guidance system for first time to forecast floods.

A new system and soil study data will soon enable the India Meteorological Department (IMD) to also forecast floods and guide the disaster management agencies on prevention techniques.

Currently, the Central Water Commission (CWC) issues flood warnings.
IMD Director General (DG) K J Ramesh told Bhasha that the national weather agency was preparing to launch this service from the next month by using the Flash Flood Guidance System (FFGS) for the first time in the country. "The service will be started for the first time with the help of this system," he said.
"As of now, the system is being tested. We hope to start it from the next month," he added.
In a first for the IMD, it will also apprise the CWC and other concerned agencies about the necessary steps to deal with the aftermath of floods. Ramesh said that different kinds of soil from different parts of the country had been studied to find out how absorbent each variety was.
This, along with the rain forecast, will help to ascertain how much water will be absorbed into the ground and how much will be left behind after going into rivers, drains and other water bodies, which can lead to floods, he said.
Using the FFGS, the IMD will be able to issue accurate flood forecasts for different regions by assessing their specific geographical conditions and on the basis of the surplus rain forecast, Ramesh added.
Apart from this, the state and district-level farmers' bodies and disaster management agencies will be given appropriate guidance for flood preparedness, Ramesh said.
He said that as of now the IMD only issues warnings for heavy rainfall, adding that accurate flood forecasts will be issued in future on the basis of soil testing.
In plains like Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, where the soil is more absorbent, 10 to 20 cm of rainfall will not cause floods, the IMD DG explained.
But in hilly areas like Uttarakhand, where the soil is less absorbent, same amount of rainfall is enough to cause floods, he added.
The FFGS will facilitate flood prediction for different regions on the basis of the temperature and rain forecasts, he said. (Source: The Economic Times)


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India Meteorological Department to use flash flood guidance system for first time to forecast floods.