Governor reviews flood situation, visits Met centre

Tribune News Service

Srinagar, April 1

After visiting the Jhelum bundh and various parts of the city, particularly areas water-logged for want of any storm water drainage, Governor NN Vohra visited the Meteorological Centre at Ram Bagh today.

The Governor climbed four levels at the Meteorological Centre to have a close look of the new ‘X’ band radar, an official said in a statement.

He was given a detailed briefing by Sonam Lotus, Scientist-C and in charge of the centre, on how the new 100-km-range radar provided superior forecasts compared to those generated by earlier systems. For several years, the Governor had been in correspondence with successive Union Ministers of Science and Technology and the Department of Earth Sciences for a ‘C’ band Doppler radar in Srinagar.

It could provide accurate weather forecasts, enable timely arrangements to deal with any emerging flood situation and provide advance forecasts about cloudbursts, heavy rain, snowfall and avalanches.

The ‘C’ band 500-km-range Doppler radar could generate timely advance information regarding weather along the entire high-altitude route to the Amarnath shrine every summer.

While the Meteorological Department had installed an ‘X’ band radar at present, it had told the Governor that a ‘C’ band radar would be installed within two years.