BENGALURU: India's IT capital is at the
mercy of rain. The moderate 40mm
rainfall on Saturday night disrupted
power, flooded homes and uprooted
trees. While all this points to a deeper
malaise of lack of planning, the city's civic
administration won't admit it.
“Was there a major disaster? No,“
Municipal Commissioner N Manjunath
Prasad said, although a site supervisor
was washed away in a stormwater drain
and over a hundred trees were uprooted
due to the gale. Not to mention the power
outage. “Tree branches falling during
heavy winds and rain is natural.Also, no
one designs drains for extreme flood
situations. When it rains, it will take some
time for the water to get cleared. Even if
the drains are desilted, they can take only so much flow because of their size.“ A
permanent solution to mitigate flooding, he said, is to remodel all stormwater drains for
an extreme flooding. “No city does this. It's too costly.“
Bengaluru is, in fact, spending huge money on stormwater drains. Only , the
Commissioner seems unaware.As many as 509 floodprone areas have been identified
(up from 299) and Rs 300 crore is allotted to strengthen the drains. The Karnataka
State Natural Disaster Monitoring Centre, which runs an urban flood forecasting system
called Bengaluru Varuna Mitra, blamed “inadequate“ rain forecast. “There was a
moderatetolight rain forecast for Saturday, which was 3.7 cm (37mm). But some parts
of the city received 12 cm (120mm). So, we could not forecast the flooding,“ KSNDMC
director GS Srinivas Reddy said.
The KSNDMC has requested the Indian Meteorology Department for a Doppler
weather radar for Bengaluru to move from forecast to nowcast. This is a technique for
shortrange forecasting by mapping current weather and estimating speed and
direction. “IMD has promised to give us a radar,“ Reddy said.
Rain over the past week has caused power outages in several parts of the Bengaluru.
been getting about 1,500 calls at once,“ Bescom MD Rajendra Cholan said. The utility
is planning to introduce an automated system through which citizens can register
complaints without having to speak with a customer support executive. “We are also
taking up replacement of old overhead power cabl e s. B o t h l ow t e n s i o n a n d
hightension cables will be taken underground. We are floating tenders for this,“ Cholan
added.
Since 1973, Bengaluru has seen a 1,005% rise in concretisation, re sulting in an 88%
decline in green spaces and a 79% drop in wetlands, according to an IISc report.
“In 1986, we recorded a 201mm rainfall on a single day in Bengaluru. That did not
cause the kind of damage we have seen because then drainages and roads were clear
and we had interlinked lakes,“ said MB Rajegowda, an agrome teorologist at the
University of Agricultural Sciences. “The lack of planning is at the heart of this.“
Most developed cities, he pointed out, run systems to quantify and identify drain outlets
in the event of heavy rainfall. “Preparedness is the key.“ Clearly, Bengaluru is far
behind.
The met department has issued a warning that Bengaluru Urban and ten districts will
see thunderstorm with gusty winds on Tuesday. Winds of 1520 kmph are predicted over
the next few days. “Wind speed of 2530 kmph is enough to cause uprooting,“
KSNDMC director GS Srinivas Reddy added.
The bigger challenge, however, will be the monsoon, scheduled to arrive in June.
During the previous monsoon, the city received 438mm of rainfall and 213mm rainfall
in July 2016 left parts of the city marooned.
Read more at:
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/58801241.cms?utm_source=contentofinterest&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=cppst
mercy of rain. The moderate 40mm
rainfall on Saturday night disrupted
power, flooded homes and uprooted
trees. While all this points to a deeper
malaise of lack of planning, the city's civic
administration won't admit it.
“Was there a major disaster? No,“
Municipal Commissioner N Manjunath
Prasad said, although a site supervisor
was washed away in a stormwater drain
and over a hundred trees were uprooted
due to the gale. Not to mention the power
outage. “Tree branches falling during
heavy winds and rain is natural.Also, no
one designs drains for extreme flood
situations. When it rains, it will take some
time for the water to get cleared. Even if
the drains are desilted, they can take only so much flow because of their size.“ A
permanent solution to mitigate flooding, he said, is to remodel all stormwater drains for
an extreme flooding. “No city does this. It's too costly.“
Bengaluru is, in fact, spending huge money on stormwater drains. Only , the
Commissioner seems unaware.As many as 509 floodprone areas have been identified
(up from 299) and Rs 300 crore is allotted to strengthen the drains. The Karnataka
State Natural Disaster Monitoring Centre, which runs an urban flood forecasting system
called Bengaluru Varuna Mitra, blamed “inadequate“ rain forecast. “There was a
moderatetolight rain forecast for Saturday, which was 3.7 cm (37mm). But some parts
of the city received 12 cm (120mm). So, we could not forecast the flooding,“ KSNDMC
director GS Srinivas Reddy said.
The KSNDMC has requested the Indian Meteorology Department for a Doppler
weather radar for Bengaluru to move from forecast to nowcast. This is a technique for
shortrange forecasting by mapping current weather and estimating speed and
direction. “IMD has promised to give us a radar,“ Reddy said.
Rain over the past week has caused power outages in several parts of the Bengaluru.
been getting about 1,500 calls at once,“ Bescom MD Rajendra Cholan said. The utility
is planning to introduce an automated system through which citizens can register
complaints without having to speak with a customer support executive. “We are also
taking up replacement of old overhead power cabl e s. B o t h l ow t e n s i o n a n d
hightension cables will be taken underground. We are floating tenders for this,“ Cholan
added.
Since 1973, Bengaluru has seen a 1,005% rise in concretisation, re sulting in an 88%
decline in green spaces and a 79% drop in wetlands, according to an IISc report.
“In 1986, we recorded a 201mm rainfall on a single day in Bengaluru. That did not
cause the kind of damage we have seen because then drainages and roads were clear
and we had interlinked lakes,“ said MB Rajegowda, an agrome teorologist at the
University of Agricultural Sciences. “The lack of planning is at the heart of this.“
Most developed cities, he pointed out, run systems to quantify and identify drain outlets
in the event of heavy rainfall. “Preparedness is the key.“ Clearly, Bengaluru is far
behind.
The met department has issued a warning that Bengaluru Urban and ten districts will
see thunderstorm with gusty winds on Tuesday. Winds of 1520 kmph are predicted over
the next few days. “Wind speed of 2530 kmph is enough to cause uprooting,“
KSNDMC director GS Srinivas Reddy added.
The bigger challenge, however, will be the monsoon, scheduled to arrive in June.
During the previous monsoon, the city received 438mm of rainfall and 213mm rainfall
in July 2016 left parts of the city marooned.
Read more at:
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/58801241.cms?utm_source=contentofinterest&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=cppst
