Tamil Nadu asks Centre to upgrade IMD's technology, says it could not give timely forecast

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin on Saturday urged the union government to upgrade technology and enhance capacity of the Regional Meteorological Centre here to ensure timely weather forecast, saying it is unable to predict 'red alert situation' in advance which hindered preparatory action by the state.

Pointing to the surprise heavy rainfall in Chennai on December 30, Stalin, in a letter to Union Home Minister Amit Shah quoted extensively from India Meteorological Department-Regio.

While rains started lashing Chennai and its suburbs from afternoon and lasted till late night, the CM said the bulletin issued at noon predicted light to moderate showers in some areas of the city and an alert released at 3:40 PM was about light to moderate rain at isolated places in Chennai and nearby districts for 1-2 hours.

By the time an 'orange alert' was issued at 4:15 PM that day, there was heavy downpour already in Chennai and 3 nearby districts, which led to inundation of many places and total disruption of traffic, he said.

The state government relied substantially on alerts issued by IMD's Regional Meteorological Centre in Chennai for gearing up the administration to handle impending disaster situations arising out of intense rainfall, Stalin said.