Ready with the roadmap?

Though there have been incremental improvements in risk mitigation strategies since the 2015 deluge, more needs to be done as Chennai situation worsens

- AVILASH ROUL

Fear of floods of the scale of the 2015 deluge is looming large over Chennai where at least 14 people have died in rain-related incidents since last week. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has predicted widespread rainfall in Tamil Nadu in the coming days, with forecasts of heavy to very heavy rainfall in Chennai.

The northeast monsoon unleashed its fury in the state last week, swamping large parts of residential areas and commercial centres.

The answer to the problem is a mix of affirmative and negative. A combination of technological and religious reasons (radar glitches and Diwali festive mood) led to miss judgement of the severity of the rainfall and flooding. Chennai recorded 200 millimeters of rainfall on the night of November 6.

State officials are concerned because no rainfall alert was issued ahead of the downpour. It was announced that the city is under a green-coded (no warning, no action) alert for until November 10.

Is the lack of a reliable radar weather system the main reason? Though north Chennai has received the heaviest rainfall, low-lying areas like Velachery and Palikarnai were also massively flooded.

Semmancheri, the town that was the worst hit during the 2015 deluge, was not flooded this time.

It should be noted that there is a striking similarity between the events leading to the 2015 floods and the active northeast monsoon’s tango with the city at present.