100 more flood forecasting stations to come up

PTI NEW DELHI, DECEMBER 9 Government will set up 100 more flood forecasting stations in parts of the country, a move that comes in the backdrop of unseasonal rains and subsequent floods in some states. Out of the total stations to be set up, 40 will be set up in Arunachal Pradesh (3) Himachal Pradesh (1), Kerala (2), Rajasthan (12), Sikkim (8) and Tamil Nadu (14) during the current five-year plan for the first time, according to the Ministry of Water Resources. The rest will be set up in uncovered areas of states already having flood forecasting stations by Central Water Commission (CWC), the Ministry said in a statement. The CWC has been entrusted with flood forecasting activities in the country. “The CWC will set up 40 flood forecasting stations for the first time in states of Arunachal Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Kerala, Rajasthan, Sikkim and Tamil Nadu during the current five-year plan. “In addition to this, 60 more such stations will be set up in other states already having the system to cover uncovered areas,” the Ministry said. For the purpose a network of 878 stations will be set up on major rivers and their tributaries to carry out forecasting activities. Presently, forecasts are issued for 176 stations (148 level forecast and 28 inflow forecast) using hydrological data from its own network and quantitative precipitation forecast (QPF) received from flood meteorological organisation (FMO) of India Meteorological Department (IMD). The existing flood forecasting network of CWC covers 19 states/Union Territories /NCT, 10 major river basins and 72 sub-basins. “So far, 445 stations have been modernised with automatic data collection and transmission systems,” it said. The decision comes at a time when Tamil Nadu and Puducherry have been hit by floods following torrential rainfall. Earlier in August, floods had claimed many lives and led to loss of property in Gujarat, Rajasthan, West Bengal, Odisha, Manipur, Meghalaya and Jharkhand. The Ministry said it has developed mathematical models on rivers Jhelum, Alaknanda, Bhagirathi, Ganga, Brahmaputra, Yamuna, Chambal, Baitarani, Vamsadhara, Subarnarekha, Mahanadi, Tapi, Godavari and Krishna. “The forecast is disseminated using email, SMS and website facilities,” the Ministry said. Modernisation of the network includes installation of automatic sensor-based data collection and satellite-based data transmission systems for near-real time flood forecasting. The work also includes development of medium range hydrologic and hydraulic models with a warning time of up to 72 hours using one dimensional mathematical modeling tool for effective flood forecasting. The Ministry had launched new flood forecasting website e-surface water information system (e-SWIS) during the flood season of 2014, which has facilitated timely forecast dissemination through email/SMS. “The trends of river water-levels at the forecasting stations of the network during the last 72 hours are also made available to general public at the web portal (http://india-water.gov.in//ffs). “In addition, flood-warning messages are also disseminated using common alerting protocol (CAP) of Google to make the warning more effective,” it added.