TN Budget: Govt. to set up advanced early warning systems for weather prediction

An allocation of ₹10 crore has been made for this; the system will include super computers, weather balloons, radars, rain gauges and other devices to help give timely warnings ahead of natural disasters

The Tamil Nadu government has decided to establish an advanced early warning system with necessary equipment and systems, after realizing the need for accurately predicting the weather. “For this, an allocation of ₹10 crore has been made in this Budget,” Finance Minister Palanivel Thiaga Rajan said, while presenting the budget for 2022-23 in the State Legislative Assembly on Friday.

The State government would establish an advanced early warning system with super computers, a system of weather balloons, two weather radars, 100 automatic weather stations, 400 automatic rain gauges and 11 automatic water level instruments. The new system aims to receive timely warning before a disaster strikes. The floods in Chennai last year, have underscored the need to upgrade the ‘Disaster Early Warning Systems’ to accurately predict the weather, the Minister said.

In addition to the ₹1,000 crore, which was earlier announced by the Chief Minister, to undertake work for preventing floods in Chennai, a sum of ₹500 crore has been allocated in the Budget for this purpose, he said. Earlier, an Advisory Committee had been set up to make suitable recommendations to prevent damage caused by floods in Chennai city and based on its recommendation, the CM had announced that the first phase for the flood prevention work will be taken up at a cost of ₹1,000 crore.