The Ranchi centre of Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) and State Disaster Management authorities have released fresh alert related to thunderstorms and lightning strikes in the State. Ranchi centre of IMD has said that the onset of Monsoon is there to stay for some days, and has cautioned people to stay away from water bodies and taller trees.
According to reports the torrential rains and thunder strikes have claimed around 100 lives in the country so far including at least 10 deaths due to lightening in Jharkhand after Monsoon reached here exactly a week ago. The department has said that mid-heavy to heavy rains are expected during next couple of days, and people are advised to stay alert while they are out in rain.
Senior Scientist and weather expert in Ranchi Centre at IMD Radheshyam Sharma said, “Though the entire state is prone to thunder strikes, but eastern districts adjacent to West Bengal are more likely to attract more thunder strikes than rest of the State. People in these areas need to take extra caution in the week to come. Specially, people must keep themselves away from water bodies and taller trees.”
“Onset period of Monsoon, during it approaches the country and has not poured much yet, always carries more thunder strikes and is full of thunder storms. Once clouds turn lighter after continual rain has taken place, the lightening activities start disappearing. They might occur during offset of Monsoon as well,” said Sharma.
However, he maintained that it was not at all possible to forecast exact locations and pockets or intensities of lightning strikes, as equipment available with the department were best suitable for weather forecasts in at least next 24 hours and afterwards. He said that any area of high altitude attracted more lightening than many other regions barring exceptions. And mine laden plateaus of Jharkhand made this region a thunder strike prone area.
“Things could have been better at our end if Jharkhand would also have been equipped with Doppler Weather Radar (DWR). These radars are advanced enough to forecast weather movements and lightening possibilities in next one hour. They are also accurate enough to zero down almost exact locations of thunder strikes in 250 Kms of radius,” Sharma said. He added that the nearest DWRs were installed in Patna and Kolkata, and both were out of the reach of Ranchi or other parts of State.