New Delhi, Feb 11 (IANS): Integrated Flood Warning System (I-Flows) has been developed for two coastal cities (Chennai and Mumbai) to disseminate information on flood vulnerability in the event of heavy rains to the state government through India Meteorological Department (IMD) for mitigation actions, the Parliament was told on Thursday.

The National Centre for Coastal Research (NCCR), an attached office of the Ministry of Earth Sciences, has also undertaken vulnerability studies due to sea erosion at selected locations along the Indian coast, Earth Sciences Minister Dr Jitendra Singh told the Rajya Sabha in a written reply, adding that extreme rainfall and associated flooding pose a threat to the coastal communities including fishermen.

Along with the I-Flows, the NCCR has also developed a mobile application viz. 'Thoondil', along with Tamil Nadu's Department of Fisheries to disseminate information to the coastal fishermen in the event of hazards.

In addition, the information on shoreline vulnerability due to erosion has been made available by NCCR to all coastal states for devising the appropriate mitigating measures to protect the coastline, he said.

The Ministry had successfully demonstrated the coastal erosion mitigation measures at Puducherry and Kadalur Periyakuppam village in Tamil Nadu.

Coastal stakeholders like fishermen and local administration/government bodies were consulted during the development of tools like flood warning system and Android-based app for fishing community while implementing preventive measures, the Minister added.