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Met chief refutes Chandrababu Naidu's allegations

Syed Amin Jafri in Hyderabad

Indian Meteorological Department officials on Friday sought to refute Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu's allegation that they had let the state down by giving vague and inadequate information about the rains.

"What we have forecast and what we have realised (in terms of actual rainfall) leaves no room for ambiguity. We have given the forecast and we have furnished the actual rainfall data. Now, you judge for yourself," said Dr C V V Bhadram, Director, Hyderabad Meteorological Centre.

Speaking to rediff.com on Friday morning, Dr Bhadram cited the forecast given by the IMD for the 24-hour period that ended at 0830 hours on Thursday. "The general forecast was 'moderate to rather heavy rains' at most places in Telangana. The heavy rainfall warning was 'heavy rain at a few places with isolated very heavy rain likely to occur over Telangana'. This official forecast was issued to the media, revenue authorities, relief commissioner and other departments concerned," he pointed out.

With the hi-tech image of Hyderabad battered by nature's fury this week, Naidu sought to find a scapegoat in the IMD.

At an all-party meeting and, later, his interaction with the media on Thursday night, Naidu blamed the weatherman for the crisis, saying that the twin cities received the highest-ever rainfall exposing the inadequacy of the weather forecast. Defending the city administration, he gave the impression that the authorities were caught unawares.

During his video conference with district collectors on Wednesday night, he had asked IMD officials for the forecast. He was told that the rainfall might be moderate, about 5 centimetres, till Thursday morning. However, the state capital received 24 cms of rainfall in 24 hours.

"When I was returning home (after the video-conference), it was already raining heavily and the roads were choked. That is the (weather forecasting) technology we have," he quipped.

However, Dr Bhadram told rediff.com that the forecast was pretty clear and there was no ambiguity about it. In weather forecasting, the rainfall is quantified into five categories. Light rainfall means 0.25 cm to one cm of rain. Moderate rainfall means 1 to 3 cms of rain. Rather heavy rainfall means 4 to 6 cms of rain. Similarly, heavy rainfall means 7 to 12 cms of rain and very heavy rainfall means 13 cms or above.

As per the forecast, the rainfall recorded at various places in Telangana included 24 cms at Hyderabad and 18 cms at Hakimpet air station on the city outskirts. Most other places in Telangana recorded rainfall ranging between 5 to 14 cms. These included Pargi (14 cms), Nizamsagar (13 cms), Koheda (13 cms), Tandur (11 cms), Konavaram (11 cms), Medak (8 cms), Dummugudem (7 cms) in the very heavy to heavy rainfall categories. Other towns accounted for rainfall between 1 cm to 5 cms.

"Thus, it would be seen that the rainfall was quite widespread over Telangana, particularly in Rangareddy, Hyderabad, Medak, Nalgonda, Warangal and Khammam districts. Fairly widespread rain occurred in coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema regions. That exactly covers what we have forecast. There was no question of not informing or not adequately informing anyone," Dr Bhadram said.

The Hyderabad Meteorological Centre said that the rainfall recorded in Hyderabad during the 24 hours ending at 0830 hours on August 24 was in fact 'record rainfall'. "As per the available records, no such rainfall was recorded before. The city received a rainfall of 24.15 cms - about one-third of its annual average of 79.13 cms - within a day. This was an all-time high in the 90-year recorded history of rainfall in the city," Bhadram said.

Earlier, on August 1, 1954, the city had recorded a rainfall of 19.05 cms. The city had experienced 15.32 cms of rainfall on September 28, 1908. The year also saw unprecedented floods in the Musi river and all-round devastation in the city. The city created another record on Wednesday, by recording a rainfall of 16 cms within seven hours from 2230 hours and 8 cms during the rest of the day, he pointed out.

Consequent to the heavy rains, water was let out into the Musi river from Osmansagar as well as Hussainsagar lakes that separates Hyderabad and Secunderabad. The release of flood water from Hussainsagar wreaked havoc all along the course of the nalas that ultimately join the Musi river. Flooding of the small lakes and tanks in and around the twin cities also led to inundation of large areas in the city and the outskirts.

As many as 81 localities and colonies were inundated and 10,000 houses submerged in the rain water. Over 35,000 people were stranded. People from the worst-affected areas were evacuated by relief workers and army personnel with the help of six army boats and two air force helicopters. The death toll due to drowning and house collapses rose to 24 in the city.

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