'Great Accuracy, Job Well Done': Netizens Thank Weather Dept For Timely Updates on Cyclone Nivar
The 'very severe' cyclonic storm Nivar made landfall near Puducherry in the early hours of Thursday. The Tamil Nadu State Disaster Management Authority (SDMA) has issued an alert of severe thunderstorm with heavy rain in Thiruvannamalai, Cuddalore, Kallakurichy and Villupuram in the next three hours. It also said that moderate rainfall with thunderstorm is likely in 19 districts.
Heavy rains that were triggered by the storm Nivar lashed Puducherry and its suburbs, uprooting trees, damaging electric poles and leaving several areas inundated. Fishermen and farmers have been alerted by the authorities to not venture into the sea.
Severe cyclonic storm Nivar expected to move Northwest wards & weaken into cyclonic storm in districts of South-interior Karnataka. Fishermen advised not to go to sea in South-coastal Andhra Pradesh & North-coastal Tamil Nadu. Chennai to have moderate rainfall till tomorrow: IMD pic.twitter.com/mWuHIm10cD
— ANI (@ANI) November 26, 2020
The India Meteorological Department has been giving out continuous warnings to the affected states through the past couple days, which has also led to better preparedness by the authorities. As such, several users on Twitter thanked the weather department for the timely and early warnings that helped the states avoid casualties.
IMD spot-on this time
— Bhavesh Thanki (@bhaveshthanki) November 26, 2020
Great work done by various essential service dept viz police, GCC, Revenue, IMD, TNEB, n other service organization well compacting the cyclone n restoring to normal situation early. Evacuating the public in low areas well preplanning is very much appreciated
— s.n.manohar (@snmanohar) November 26, 2020
Kudos IMD Team for your super forecast. 👍👍
— Shivaram (@rshivara) November 26, 2020
Excellent prediction.. Very well done indeed to IMD! @Indiametdept https://t.co/urvmobiQqm
— Raj Ramadurai (@rrn_raja) November 26, 2020
Kudoos to IMD (RMC #Chennai). They struck adamantly with their forecasts & landfall location and it was damn correct. Even, popular private weather forecasters could not zero in onto correct location.
IMD, who always face heat from people, deserve thorough appreciation. #rains
— Chennai Skies (@ChennaiFlights) November 26, 2020
Kudo's to IMD @Indiametdept for being consistent for three days even though GFS is going crazy. Also kudos to @ChennaiRains @praddy06 & other weather bloggers for predicting the path and its effects much before. Pody& Cuddalore had seen heaviest rains in last 12hrs #CycloneNivar
— vijayakumar (@iamvijayakumar) November 26, 2020
A shoutout to IMD, NCMC & DMA officials for showing the efficiency in predicting and preparing for #CycloneNivar.
I hope and pray for everyone's safety.
— Pranitha Subhash (@pranitasubhash) November 26, 2020
But for this cultural gaffe, IMD has done well predicting the path of Nivar with great accuracy and timely charts
— R (@raneunn) November 26, 2020
However, a few users also said the department was just doing its job and hence the congratulations seemed a bit out of place. The department has earlier at times been at the receiving end of criticism too for not being correct about the weather predictions.
Why are people congratulating the IMD for doing their job?
— Nadika நாடியா (@NadjaNadika) November 26, 2020
A day before on Wednesday, the IMD's consecutive warnings and updates in Hindi had received backlash from several users in Tamil Nadu who criticised the weather department for choosing Hindi as a medium and trended #StopHindiImposition.
In a related incident, residents of one of the worst hit areas during the 2015 deluge in Chennai found a flyover the safer place to park their cars to avert their vehicles from getting submerged. Residents of Madipakkam in south Chennai left their vehicles on the margins of the bridge overlooking the Mass Rapid Transit System railway station in nearby Velacherry.
