Kerala: Thunderstorm-prone areas under scanner

KOTTAYAM: The State Disaster Management Authority  (SDMA) has decided to monitor the areas prone to severe thunderstorm and lightning with hyper local weather predictions and forewarn the public about them.   It has already started using the services of the weather company of IBM for the purpose. Some reputed private weather forecasters will make available the services for which Keltron has been  assigned to identify the solutions and provide  support.  

The SDMA  will  eventually predict  landslides and flash flood probabilities  triggered by intense  rainfall often  accompanied by thunderstorms. "By closely monitoring such areas,  it would be easy to judge the occurrence of the landslides with a few additional ground-based instruments used to scan hydrological fluxes,"  said  Mr Sekhar Lukose Kuriakose, SDMA member secretary. "Initially,  all services will be made available free  by the companies. Later, the technical committee of the SDMA will evaluate the proof of concept and decide  whether to continue the service after six months to one year,"  he said.