Before the onset of next monsoon, an urban early warning system will be in place in the Greater Hyderabad limits and the National Disaster Management Authority will provide necessary support in this regard, NDMA vice-chairman, M Shashidhar Reddy has said.
Participating in a workshop on ‘Real-time Flood Early Warning System for Hyderabad’ here on Saturday, Reddy said that the GHMC had an important role to play as the city had become a commercial and IT hub of the country. “Rapid urbanisation has made many parts of the city prone to frequent flooding during the monsoon.”
He wanted the desilting of nalas and other related works completed by March 31. “The city, with the existing storm water drains, can withstand a rainfall of up to 15 to 20 mm an hour. If it exceeds, the city will be flooded with water in no time. In view of the situation the GHMC has to take up desilting of nalas on priority for easy flow of water into the storm water drains with the help of 16 watersheds.”
Reddy said that there was a need to install more real-time rain gauges in various parts of the city. There are, at present, 31 real-time rain gauges next only to Mumbai which has 60 real-time rain gauges and there is a need to increase the number here for more effective implementation.
“With the help of this type of equipment we can alert even the traffic police in cases of traffic congestion in areas well before a heavy downpour occurs,” Shashidhar Reddy explained.
City mayor M Majid Hussain assured the NDMA vice-chairman that he would strive to increase the number of rain gauges to 60 in the city and try to complete desilting works by March 31 next.
Municipal commissioner Somesh Kumar said that as promised by the mayor the GHMC would set up 29 more rain gauges to take the number to 60, and 15 more by other line departments totaling 75 rain gauges to overtake Mumbai in this respect.