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Karnataka

Karnataka

Committee submits report on flash floods probe

Special Correspondent

‘Cyclone Warning Dissemination System’ needed
Network of weather stations across the State recommended

PANAJI: A study committee set up by the Goa Government to probe the causes of the Canacona flash floods on October 2, has suggested that the Government should make India Meteorological Department’s ‘Cyclone Warning Dissemination System’ operational in the State.

The report submitted to Chief Minister Digambar Kamat here on Friday, by Chairman of the committee Satish Shetye, Director, National Institute of Oceanography (NIO), has one general suggestion and four specific suggestions, which include setting up of a large network of weather stations across the State with the help of Indian Space Research Organisation, NIO and the State Department of Environment and Science.

The report attributed the floods primarily to a “7-hour-long intense precipitation” and suggested that in order to enlarge the State’s awareness of damage from precipitation events and help it work out policies to prepare for eventualities, it should undertake case studies with the help of services of faculty and students from Goa’s undergraduate and postgraduate institutions and with assistance from NIO to examine other vulnerable locations.

The committee also suggested that the State Department of Science, Technology and Environment, should provide funding for such research. A NIO team should also prepare a report to assist the Government to set up watch-keeping for intense precipitation events, the Shetye committee said.

Minimising impact

The committee also felt that because such events could not be prevented, the State should focus on awareness and preparedness for minimising the impact of an intense precipitation event.

The general recommendation of the committee was that the well-known practices in forest management for preventing mudslides (aforestation of mountain slopes, for example) and in river management (such as de-silting of river bed) should receive emphasis and increased investment.

The panel said that these measures should be able to minimise damage from precipitation events of lesser intensity, but higher frequency that occur in Goa.

Other suggestions

Among other suggestions are: mapping of the areas vulnerable to mudslides and site-specific disaster management plans to face them to be placed at each location with high vulnerability; areas with high vulnerability to flooding due to an intense precipitation event should be identified and a disaster management plan should be evolved at locations that are particularly vulnerable; a mechanism for keeping a careful watch to be in place.

Hub

The Meteorological Centre of the India Meteorological Department (IMD), Panaji, should form the nerve centre of such a watch, it said.

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