City gets flood disaster warning system

Surat: The Surat Municipal Corporation (SMC) has installed siren alerting system in each of the seven municipal zones to notify residents about emergency events like floods and fire.
About 40 sirens have been installed in each of the municipal zones, especially to alert the residents during the flood situation. A mock drill in this connection was conducted on Friday wherein all the 40 sirens were sounded for about a minute.
Official sources said the siren system is part of disaster management and is intended to prepare the residents about natural disasters like floods, fire and earthquake.
After the devastating floods in 2006, the civic body has installed variable message system (VMS) at about 23 strategic spots in the city in order to alert the residents about the water level at Ukai reservoir and the release of water apart from other emergency alert messages.
"The diamond city is on the flood plain and floods are a recurring phenomenon every year during the monsoon season. Thus, we have made an effective use of the public warning system to alert residents about the flood disaster so that they could prepare themselves well in advance," said Jatin Shah, city engineer.
According to Shah, there are three different stages when the sirens will be sounded in each of the municipal zones during the flood-like situation. The first siren will be sounded when the water level at Nehru Bridge would touch 7.5 metres and it will be for about a minute, the second one would be sounded when the water level would be 8.5 metres for one-and-a-half-minute using different bullhorn and the last siren will be sounded when the water level would cross 9.5 metres for two minutes.
Sources said when 3 lakh cusecs of water is released from Ukai reservoir, the water level at Nehru Bridge is 7.5 metres, at 3.5 lakh cusecs the level is 8.5 metres and at 4.75 lakh cusecs, the level crosses 9.5 metres.
Shah said, "The siren alarm system will help the residents to prepare for any emergency situation."