Yogi Adityanath directs strengthening of weather warning systems across UP

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has directed officials to make the weather warning systems in the state more accurate, faster and people-centric.

Chairing a review of the relief and disaster management department here on Saturday, Adityanath emphasised that timely and accurate information during natural disasters can save many lives, an official statement said.

''Arrangements should be ensured, so that weather forecasting and warning systems are not limited only to technical mechanisms but effectively reach the last person,'' he said, directing officials to strengthen last-mile reach of weather alerts.

He said the public information system should be strengthened in villages and sensitive areas through extensive use of Interactive Voice Response System (IVRS), panchayat-level loudspeakers, local FM radio, mobile alerts and social media.

According to the statement, a review of the severe thunderstorm that occurred on May 13 was undertaken during the meeting.

Officials said the India Meteorological Department's Multi-Hazard Early Warning System (MHEWS) had been monitoring the event seven days in advance.

Initially, a yellow warning was issued, which was later modified to an orange and red alert in several districts.

The warnings indicated the possibility of strong storms, lightning, hailstorms and winds exceeding 60 kmph. Wind speeds of 80 to 130 kmph were recorded at several places.

In this regard, alerts regarding winds of 70 to 80 kmph had been issued for several districts including Bhadohi, Prayagraj, Fatehpur, Lucknow, Mirzapur, Rae Bareli, Kanpur Nagar and Unnao districts.

Through the 'Sachet' platform, colour-coded alerts were sent to district administrations, district disaster management authorities, 'Aapda Mitras' and related departments. SMS-based warnings were also sent to active mobile phones in affected areas. Continuous SMS alerts were issued throughout the incident, the statement said.

At the same time, information was also circulated through local TV channels, FM radio, WhatsApp groups, village heads, 'lekhpals', ASHA and Anganwadi workers.

The chief minister said, ''Along with issuing warnings, it is also important to increase awareness among people regarding safe behaviour.''.

He directed officials to run extensive awareness campaigns in schools, panchayats and rural areas, also advocating local-level assessment of vulnerability of trees, electric poles, hoardings and weak temporary structures and formulation of standard operating procedures accordingly.

The chief minister was also informed that the India Meteorological Department is continuously monitoring weather conditions in the state through doppler weather radars, automatic weather stations (AWS), automatic rain gauge stations (ARG), lightning sensors, satellite images and numerical weather prediction models.

Forecasts related to thunderstorms and lightning activities are issued at medium-range (4-5 days), short-range (2-3 days) and nowcast (up to 3 hours) levels.

According to the statement, a total of 450 automatic weather stations and 2,000 automatic rain gauges have been installed in the state. Doppler weather radars are being installed in Aligarh, Jhansi, Lucknow, Varanasi and Azamgarh, while the process of installing additional radars in Bareilly, Deoria and Prayagraj is underway. Work is also in progress for installation of wind profiler radars in Lucknow and Prayagraj.

With the support of UNDP, disaster management plans are being prepared for 15 departments, all 75 districts and 20 major cities of the state.

In 2025, women from around 1,800 self-help groups in 118 tehsils of 44 districts were trained, through whom awareness campaigns were conducted in 2,361 villages and 4,824 hamlets.

Insurance certificates have been distributed to 'Aapda Mitra' volunteers, and 66,077 life jackets have been distributed in 38 districts to prevent boat accidents, the statement added.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)