Geographic Information System for monsoon updates

Hyderabad: The GHMC is developing a Geographic Information System for generating automatic warnings/forecasts to make its monsoon emergency teams more efficient. 

 

The Indian Meteorology Department will provide daily weather reports of Greater Hyderabad to the corporation and based on the forecast manpower will be deployed. The IMD and GHMC are analysing the weather data of the last 3-5 years to prepare contour maps, vulnerability maps regarding flooding, urban heat islands, distribution of rainfall and air quality.

 

On a recent visit to GHMC, Ajit Tyagi, the former DG of the Met department  had asked the IMD and GHMC to work on a system to “integrate the rainfall and other weather data generated by the weather stations of IMD.”

 

The joint action plan of IMD and GHMC include identifying and linking low lying areas with inundation maps based on geographical topology, providing manpower, water release based on rainfall forecast and storage in the 169 tanks managed by the GHMC. The GHMC will issue an alarm to its staff on heavy rainfall days. 

 

GHMC commissioner Somesh Kumar said the plan includes networking mapping, identifying critical water logging points, dangerous cellars, low lying areas and mapping them, dilapidated buildings, emergency teams to clear fallen trees, desilting of canals, locating bottlenecks, drainage mapping and material for emergency repairs.