While he has been alerting the whole city with weather forecasts, looks like the Chennai weatherman’s forecast had little effect on his own family.
S Ramanan, director of Area Cyclone Warning Centre in Chennai, who had become a super-star overnight, with his pictures going viral on the social media even as rains pounded the city for over a week, was himself a victim of the deluge.
At around 1:30 pm on Thursday, Ramanan was informed that his family who were living on the first floor of an apartment in West-Mambalam, an area that has been severely flooded in the last 24 hours, was stranded and had to be rescued immediately.
Ramanan was stuck in the meteorological office for the past few days to give timely updates on the weather. But the weatherman’s family had to be helped and the information was passed on to top officers in the government. Sources say that the information commissioner was in touch with Ramanan and the rescue team got in touch with the family.
The Hindu quoted Ramanan saying, “I could not reach them as there is no mobile connectivity. Many roads going to my area are blocked. I am waiting for water to recede to take a quick break from work and reach home. Several of the other meteorological staff members are also in the same plight.”
“I am just a government servant and it is my responsibility to alert people and the government of the weather situation,” he added.
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