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Journalism of Courage
Two months after warnings about cyclonic storm Phyan sparked widespread panic along the countrys western coast and sent Mumbai to the verge of a complete shutdown,the India Meteorological Department (IMD) on Thursday said that those predictions were not entirely correct and blamed it on inadequate data from the Arabian Sea,a shortage of tide gauges and the absence of a Doppler Radar in Mumbai.
Phyan originated in the Arabian Sea and crossed the western coast on November 11 near Alibaug,narrowly missing Mumbai. The cyclonic storm was deemed by meteorologists as an unusual system,although not unprecedented. Weather experts had said that cyclonic storms normally did not occur in the Arabian Sea in November,and even rarely trail the western coast.
In Mumbai,however,panic brewed as the IMD warned that it expected the city to be impacted as it was located within the wing span of the storm. The civic disaster management department was alerted,schools and offices were asked to shut down by 2 pm that day and the city was put on an orange alert,one level below the red alert issued for severe cyclones.
Today,Ajit Tyagi,the Director-General,IMD,told The Indian Express that those predictions were inaccurate. To optimally improve our forecasting system we must arrange for collecting regular data from the Arabian Sea from various agencies. I also urge the state government to move fast in installing the Doppler radar, he said.
Mumbai was promised a Doppler radar in the aftermath of the deluge of 2005 but getting one was delayed for years as the Met department could not find a suitable location to install it. The high-tech radar,which emits microwaves that peek inside moving weather systems and help more accurate forecasts,would have been the first on the western coast. Tyagi was in Mumbai to attend a two-day programme organised by IMD to discuss natural disasters such as cyclones and floods with government departments.
In the state,the Oil and Natural Gas Corporation,Coast Guard and the Navy collect data from the Arabian Sea on tidal,current movements etc. We acquire limited data on the sea,but much more is required to study a storm or cyclone. Our attempt will be to get such data in place by this years monsoon, added Dr R V Sharma,Deputy Director-General of IMD.
