CHENNAI: If the weather god had a name in Tamil Nadu, then it would be the Regional Meterological Centre, but with technology at the fore, the new gods of the weather world happen to be Twitter and mobile apps. Many people have taken to Twitter, with one out of five tweets being about which routes are safe to take and whether certain areas are OK. Twitter is the go-to platform for information, though it has its own drawbacks, like the difficulty of checking the credibility of information.
Twitter handles Ridlr chennai (@TrafflineCHN) and @chennairains were the most used for information on which routes to take and which to avoid during the heavy rains that lashed the city this month. “I found that Twitter was a useful way of planning my travel - which routes to avoid and how badly areas were flooded. At times it helped me stay put when traffic congestion was at its worst, says Praveen Kumar, a sales executive.
This monsoon, most private weather blogging websites had been the favorite sites of people who want periodic weather updates. Some websites like skymet weather and keaweather emerged favorites as they are available across platforms - even on Twitter. Some of them even have android apps, like chennairains with their COMK - Chennai Rains Chennaiyil Oru Mazhaikaalam and Ridlr, which is a traffic route and congestion mapping app which gets crowd sourced inputs for real-time updates.
“I was surprised that most of what was happening in the city was online, through tweets, websites and apps. Some weather websites even offered apps, through primitive in design and just a link to the website, they served the purpose,” says Raju S, a techie. Though there is an app by the India Meteorological Department (IMD) called ‘Indian-weather’ launched in 2013, the app does not run smoothly and hasn’t received an update in a long time.
Next time the rains come, most people will be ready with the necessary information at hand, though one might need to carry a power bank as well, just in case.