New Delhi, November 23: In the aftermath of the deadliest flood in Kerala, the India Meteorological Department has developed a new technology to assess the rise of water level in rivers and reservoirs by rain.

The new technology can help state governments to minutely monitor the impact of rainfall, IMD chief K J Ramesh said on Friday.

The technology called the ‘Impact Based Forecasting Approach’ which shows “pre-event scenario” can help authorities in taking real-time decisions, he said.

“We should be able to generate a scenario where we can take decisions to release water or not release it. It will be helpful for every state authority to take decision. We can run this system in pre-event scenario. We are now in a position to use to this technology into service,” Ramesh said at an event organised by the Centre for Science and Environment.

Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan had noted that there were “lapses” on the part of the IMD’s rain forecast, which led to the heavy floods in Kerala | Image Credit: Ranjith Siji, Wikimedia Commons

The heavy downpour that ravaged Kerala for a fortnight ending August 21 caused death of around 500 people and economic damages worth over Rs 40,000 crore. Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan had said in the state assembly that there were “lapses” on the part of the IMD’s rain forecast. The IMD had forecast an estimated 98.5 mm rain in the state between 9 and 15 August, but Kerala received 352.2 mm of rainfall, Vijayan said.

The IMD director general admitted that excessive rainfall that led to floods in Kerala was a result of climate change and in terms of rainfall it was very heavy.

“The number of cyclones have increased from 10 to 18 every year as reported in Nature magazine and, secondly, the quantum of precipitation which was 13 days has come down to 10 days,” he said.