Hyderabad to have urban Met services

Hyderabad to have urban Met services
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The city of minarets is going to be a part of the 10 cities that would have urban meteorological services, a first of its kind services aimed at making cities prepare for impending disasters, especially urban flooding.

Hyderabad: The city of minarets is going to be a part of the 10 cities that would have urban meteorological services, a first of its kind services aimed at making cities prepare for impending disasters, especially urban flooding.

  • Doppler Weather Radar will come up at the Air Force station at Dundigul

“Starting 2017, urban meteorological services would be flagged off and the programme would be a seven-year plan,” said KJ Ramesh, the new head of Indian Meteorological Department who was in the city to take part in the launch of ‘Rain Ready - An Initiative to Contribute to Better Preparedness of Cities to Deal With Floods’ under the aegis of Dr M Channa Reddy Memorial Trust here on Wednesday.

Doppler Weather Radar would come up at the Air Force station at Dundigul, which had been approved, informed Ramesh, adding that it would mean that Hyderabad would be better equipped to manage unforeseen disasters in the future.

The aim of introducing urban meteorological services was to prepare cities to tackle problems by utilising information and communication technologies to enhance overall efficiency and interactivity of urban services. Ramesh said that due to global warming, the hydrological system had been triggered and there would be urban flooding more often than not.

Environmentalists, social activists, urban planners and academicians lamented against the lack of urban planning. Spelling out the objectives of the ‘Rain Ready’ initiative, Marri Shashidhar Reddy, secretary, Dr M Channa Reddy Memorial Trust said that all stakeholders would be enthused to prepare a plan of action to prepare better against urban flooding.

Prof Kapil Gupta of IIT Bombay presented a paper showing how hydrologic assessment and remedial measures such as setting up flap gates, 60 automatic weather stations, hydraulic study of Mithi River and real time flood warning systems helped determine spatial and temporal variations rainfall in Mumbai.

Eminent environmentalist Prof Purushottam Reddy said successive governments only paid lip service and unabashed encroachments on nalas and water bodies destroyed the natural course of water leading to situations like the present flooding.

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