India to give flash-flood warning to Asian nations

India to give flash-flood warning to Asian nations

News:

1. The world metrological organistaion (WMO) designated India as a nodal centre for preparing flash-flood forecasts.

Important facts:

2. It implies that India will have to develop a customized model that can issue advance warning of floods in Vietnam, Sri Lanka, Myanmar and Thailand.

3. IMD would be working   to customize a weather model, developed by the United States and donated to the WMO, to warn of flash floods atleast six hours in advance.

4. The test version for the same was carried out by the IMD recently.

5. Flash flood guidance system:

• Use of satellite mapping and ground based observations.
• Aims to provide forecasts six hours in advance.
• It provides forecasts by computing the likelihood of rainfall and the soil moisture levels to warn of possible floods.
• According to WMO, flash floods account for 85% of flooding incidents across the world, causing some 5,000 deaths each year.

6. Like India, several Southeast Asian countries also depend on the monsoon and are prone to its vagaries.

7. Pakistan had refused to participate in the Scheme.

8. India currently has a warning system for Tsunami that also doubles up a warning system for several Asian countries.

9. The Central Water Commission, monitors India’s dams, warns of rising water level in the reservoirs.

10. The CWC recently tied up with Google to develop a software application to visualize rising water levels during the heavy rains.