Thiruvananthapuram, Jun 23 (IANS): The Kerala State Disaster Management Authority (SDMA), which was tasked to see if services of private weather agencies can be availed, has zeroed down on three of the four organisations shortlisted earlier on, sources said on Tuesday.

The sources revealed that Skymet, IBM Weather Company, and Earth Networks have got the nod and Rs 9.5 million cleared as fees for their professional services for a year.

This new arrangement was given the green signal after the floods following heavy rains at the end of May 2018, which continued in three stages till the middle of August and claimed 483 lives in the southern state. At the height of the deluge, there were 14.50 lakh people in over 3,000 relief camps.

Soon after the floods, a controversy had erupted between India Meteorological Department and the Kerala authorities over alleged lack of proper information from the weather forecaster to the state.