Predicting floods due to rains difficult: Jitendra Singh in Lok Sabha

NEW DELHI: Heavy rains have been forecast in Tamil Nadu, but floods as a result of the downpour is difficult to predict as it depends on a variety of reasons, Lok Sabha was informed today.

Minister of State in Prime Minister's Office Jitendra Singh said the downpour in Tamil Nadu and parts of Andhra Pradesh was forecast 72 hours in advance.

But floods depend on local reasons, including the flow of water and encroachments blocking its outflow, he said, adding that such circumstances are difficult to predict.

Responding to supplementaries, he said every 10 years, such heavy rains occur in certain regions and in the past two years, it has occurred in places like Jammu and Kashmir too.

He said the North Eastern Space Application Centre has developed a flood-warning system as a research and development project in Assam.

The model is being used in all the flood-prone districts of Assam. But it does not provide heavy rainfall forecast, which is done by the Space Applications Centre at Hyderabad on an experimental basis.