THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: As the devastating floods in the past couple of days claimed 15 lives and left seven people missing across the state, lack of timely and accurate weather forecasts in addition to the state’s disaster response have come under scrutiny.
Even as the opposition targeted the state government for failure in timely response, Chief Minister V D Satheesan on Monday said the IMD had not provided advance and timely alerts.
He attributed the sudden flooding to extreme, localised rainfall. “IMD could not predict the intensity of rainfall and could not give the alerts timely. It was beyond their capacity due to the peculiar nature of the rainfall influenced by El Nino,” said Satheesan, rejecting criticism.
He pointed out that districts such as Pathanamthitta and Idukki continued under an orange alert even as they had already begun receiving rainfall of red alert intensity, leaving authorities with little lead time for evacuation and emergency preparedness.
“There was no time for evacuation when such intense rainfall happens,” Satheesan said. “Some places, such as Vadasserikara, received over 350mm of rainfall, when the classification for very heavy rainfall is 200 mm. Experts say it is due to El Niño – when the temperature rises, there is more evaporation, which then falls as heavy rainfall.”
The CM refuted rumours regarding the emergency opening of dams, warning that strict legal action would be taken against those spreading false news. He explained that water levels in most reservoirs remain low due to preceding rainfall deficits, adding that water is currently being released only from Moozhiyar, under the strict review and approval of the district collector. Opposition LDF had targeted the state government for failure to handle the flood situation. They had criticised lack of adequate preparations and inefficiencies in disaster management.
Meanwhile amid criticism over the timeliness of weather warnings, experts highlight the scientific limitations of predicting rapidly evolving extreme rainfall events Meteorologists and disaster management experts insist the issue is less about the failure of the IMD and more about the scientific limitations in forecasting fast-evolving extreme weather. KSDMA member secretary Shekhar L Kuriakose said that it’s a limitation of science rather than a forecasting failure.
PSC exams postponed
T’Puram: In view of adverse weather conditions, the PSC has postponed all examinations, both OMR and online, scheduled for August 4, 5, 6 and 10. The revised dates of the examinations will be announced later.
Calamity assistance
Rs 10K financial assistance allocated for funeral rites of flood victims
Rs 10K relief provided to families whose homes were flooded
Rs 8L compensation for individuals who completely lost their homes
Rs 12L solatium for victims who lost both their house and land
(With inputs from bureaus)