New Delhi, June 22, 2013: Even as the Uttarakhand authorities faced criticism for allegedly not having given timely alert about the floods, the Meteorological Centre at Dehra Dun on Friday said it had issued weather forecast and telecast warnings as early as last Friday.

The Met Centre said people had even stopped travelling to the areas the very next day.

It remains doubtful as to how the information was disseminated among pilgrims and tourists in the mountains, where mobile and internet networks are none too strong. According to the State government, the pilgrimage was officially “stopped” on Saturday, a day after the Centre issued the first forecast and weather warning on June 14, indicating heavy rain in all the agro meteorological zones.

The Met Centre had alerted Executive Director, Disaster Management and Mitigation Centre, Piush Rautela, on his mobile the same day about the impending heavy rains.

Warnings were issued to the State government the next day too (June 15) about “heavy to very heavy” rainfall forecast, particularly on June 17. The government had advised pilgrims not to proceed on the Char Dham Yatra and told people already in the mountains to move to safer spots, according to an official at the Met Centre.

As per the reports, the Met Centre informed the Inspector General (Intelligence) that landslips were imminent in the succeeding 48-72 hours and the IG had in turn informed the Chief Secretary and the Chief Minister.

Similar information was passed on to the Inspector-General of the Indo-Tibetan Border Police.

Mr. Rautela confirmed to The Hindu that the pilgrimage was indeed stopped on Saturday. However, according to eyewitnesses, no one was aware of any warning or halting of the pilgrimage. They claim they were forced to stop after bridges were washed away and roads damaged.

The cloudburst, followed by torrential rains and flash floods, devastated the State on the night of June 16 and reports of death and damage started pouring in from June 17.

Source: The Hindu