‘Red Alert’ Warning Gone ‘False Alert’? Once again the Weatherman Fooled Us All

‘Red Alert’ Warning Gone ‘False Alert’? Once again the Weatherman Fooled Us All

Mangaluru : A “RED ALERT” warning was issued by the Meteorological Department predicting heavy thunderstorms with lighting and thunders for Wednesday 7 and 8 August, and based on that information from the weatherman, our Deputy Commissioner Sasikanth Senthil once again declared holiday for school and colleges today. But do I see any thunderstorms outside- I don’t think so? It is nice outside with a clear sky, even though it showers a little every now and then. Seems like the weatherman once again fooled the district administration and all of us with their not so true weather report. This is the third time that after holidays were declared assuming that there would be heavy thunderstorms, but it turned out to be All Good Weather on those Rain Holidays declared. Once again students lost yet another class day on a sunny weather day.

A holiday has been declared for all Anganwadis, schools and colleges in Dakshina Kannada and Udupi districts on Wednesday in view of heavy rain warning and red alert declared by Indian Meteorological Department (IMD). While red alert has been declared till August 8 in Dakshina Kannada, in Udupi it will be on till August 9. All major rivers in the two districts are in spate and the water level in the Netravathi at Bantwal stood at 7.7 m on Tuesday against the danger level of 8.5 m. Water level in the Netravathi at Uppinangady stood at 28.2 m against the danger level of 31.5 m and the level in the Kumaradhara in Uppinagady, where the two rivers merge, stood at 21 m against the danger level of 26.5 m.

Tourists have been asked not to visit beaches and fishermen have been advised not to sail out for fishing till Thursday. Commander, Indian Coast Guard, Karnataka, S.S. Dasila speaking to Team Mangalorean said that according to weather forecast high waves are likely in the sea along the coast for the next two days. The Coast Guard is on high alert, he said. There was water logging on the premises of Bertrand Russell School in Baikampady. The compound wall of a building collapsed near Deepa Comforts Hotel in the city. A retaining wall collapsed in Kotekani, while there was a landslip in Kambalapadavu near Mudipu. Sea erosion continued in Someshwara.

Meteorologists are ‘Always Wrong,’ Right? Then Why Give Holidays for Institutions? The District administration instead of declaring holidays for school children should straighten up their poor planning, rectify bad storm water drainage and roads without drainage, many other poor infrastructure planning-which has led to water flowing and flooding of streets recently. Simply giving holidays to school children in order to avoid blame for flooding due to poor planning of MCC and PWD will not serve the purpose. Every now and then if children are given holidays due to bad weather, just imagine how many times more will they get day off from school, when monsoons have still time to end? Why not have “Monsoon Holidays” instead of “Summer Holidays”? Not “Smart” decision being a “Smart City”?

This is indeed funny to note that as soon as Weatherman forecasts rain in the coming days, the District Administration announces HOLIDAY for Schools and Colleges-which doesn’t make absolutely NO SENSE! And every time a Holiday is announced in the pretext of heavy rains, it works out to be a bright sunny day- and we have experienced during last year monsoons. So why even bother to give a holiday for school and college students? Okay, I do agree the decision is taken in respect to the safety of the students going to schools and colleges in heavy rains. But on a second thought, how many of these students will remain indoor at home during rain holiday-not many? A whole lot of students will be at the Malls or movie theatres, rather than be home and safe during torrential rains, just like today.

Ask any adult in Mangaluru, if they did get rain holidays when they went to school or college- and the answer will be No! Even we all went to school and colleges, but as far as I know, there was no such thing called a Rain Holiday, unless it was sure of a cyclone or Tsunami hitting the City..But now, as soon as it rains continuous for few hours, and as soon as meteorological dept issues a warning of heavy rains, schools and college management gets a notice regarding rain holiday. We walked in the flooded streets during monsoons when we went to school and colleges- and it was fun. Recalling our school days, we all went to school in heavy rains, and we never got holidays. We loved to walk in the rain going to school. Seems like the present children are spoiled brats? If the district administration is so much worried about the safety of the students, they should have Monsoon Holidays rather than Summer Holidays. By giving a holiday at the last minute screws up all the co-curricular planned at the institution.

Many a times meteorologists say there would be sunny skies while there’s a storm raging overhead. or sometimes just the opposite-like they will say there would heavy thunderstorms, and it will turn out to be a pleasant warm day. Accurate weather forecasting depends on how many eyes there are in the sky. So often the story is the same: Meteorologist predicts heavy rain resulting in flooding. Citizens plans for rainy day and cancel programmes/picnics. Last-minute change to storm track means only it drizzles, not even to wet the soil. Public bitterly complains. And such issues still carry on- and when we know it why even bother to depend on a weatherman. No one is powerful than God or Mother nature- they have their own way to put the spell whenever they want to.

Guess what? The reason to give holidays anticipating bad weather, is because the administration doesn’t want to get accountable if a child gets stuck in the floods or gets drowned in the flooded drain. Whose fault is this? It’s the fault of our lovely smart engineers/contractors of our so called “Smart City” who lacked in poor planning of the city’s infrastructure, also due to the shabby drainage work which results in water overflowing and flooding and many other issues. Even after Mangaluru City was soaked and swallowed under floods due to these issues during the last heavy spell of rainfall we had in May 2018, still no action has been taken to rectify these problems. And just to wash their hands off, children are given holidays to be on safer side.

In conclusion, having flopped quite a few times in declaring holidays depending on the word of the weatherman/ Meteorologists 24 hours in advance, next time if the district administration is concerned about the safety of the school children, they could wait until a few hours prior to the school opening, and depending on how the weather looks outside, it could call for school/college closure. It’s okay to give holidays to schools in Villages or remote areas, where school children walk miles, whereas in the City schools/PUC students get dropped near their institutions by private/tourist vehicles or school buses. So why even holidays for them when it rains ?Oh well!

Many institutions management and teachers may not be happy with the holidays declared every now and then which will screw up the school year agenda. With all the latest technology we have, the message could be reached to be parents either through SMS/Whatsapp or any other quick way one could think off. And once again, all the school students who got a lucky rain holiday will be either playing cricket or playing games on their electronic gadgets, and while the college students will be either loitering inside the Mall or those having GF’s will have some romantic spree watching a movie in multiples cinemas. But for sure not many have stayed home- that’s for sure.