Don't panic following red alert: Official

Chennai: Allaying the fears that IMD’s red alert would cause a Kerala-like flood situation in the state, K.Satyagopal, Commissioner of Revenue Administration said the red alert was issued only to advise the state government to take action for heavy rains. The alert forecasts extremely heavy rainfall at isolated places in Tamil Nadu on October 7.   

IMD is using colour codes while sending alerts to state governments. In IMD’s alert, the entire Tamil Nadu and Kerala showed in red colour on October 7. “If the alert is Green then no action is required. Yellow colour means authorities have to watch weather updates. Orange or amber colour alert is given to be prepared for weather events which can turn worse. The red colour alert means authorities need to take immediate action,” the commissioner explained. 

While speaking to Deccan Chronicle on Thursday he said, “We have alerted the district collectors and first responders. The state government also identified vulnerable areas.”

Tamil Nadu government has identified 4,399 vulnerable areas, including 578 highly vulnerable areas and 892 vulnerable areas. The remaining are moderately and low vulnerable areas. “We have also enrolled 30,759 first responders - young volunteers from the community including 9,500 women volunteers,” he said.

Following the desilting of 30,000 water tanks, additional storage capacity has been created. “We have created additional storage space for up to 2.5 tmcft.  After removing the silt, the recharge will happen faster,” Mr.Satyagopal said.

In order to ensure the free flow of water, the officials also removed the blocks under bridges and culverts. “It was noticed that the pipe culverts are causing problems and converted them into box culverts.  We have come up with additional culverts wherever the entire river stream was not covered,” he added.