With claims of unprecedented rains going around to justify the failures of the ruling Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) government in the 2023 floods, several channels kept running reports to prove that the rains were worse in 2023 rather than in 2015.
Alleged fact-checking website YouTurn (whose former Editor-in-Chief Iyan Karthikeyan is now the ‘Mission Director’ of DMK government’s Fact-Checking Unit) claimed that the rains were more in 2023 than in 2015. What was the basis of this claim? An article published by The News Minute.
The News Minute is popularly known for being a Dravidianist-cum-Leftist outlet that peddles propaganda favourable to the DMK. The alleged fact-checking website YouTurn falls under the same category.
In the nearly 20-minute video, YouTurn claims it was only news channels like NewsJ that were spreading “fake news” that 2015 saw more rain than 2023. In TNM’s article, they quoted weather bloggers Chennai Rains’ Srikanth insisting on examining a 48-hour timeframe in the context of the 2023 floods. This distinction he said arises because the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) records rainfall data from 8.30 am to 8.30 am the following day. In the recent floods, the peak rainfall occurred between 8.30 pm on December 3 and 8.30 pm on 4 December 2023.
However, in the YouTurn video, they quote IMD’s numbers which allegedly say that the rains in 2023 were higher than in 2015.
But IMD’s data comparing 2015 and 2023 clearly prove that the rains in 2015 were much more than the present rains.
As per request from Public , Daily cumulative rainfall during 1 Oct. to 10 Dec. of 2015 & 2023 – Nungambakkam & Meenambakkam posted below pic.twitter.com/0foV26c1YS
— Tamilnadu Weather-IMD (@ChennaiRmc) December 11, 2023
This claim by YouTurn was also debunked by RedPix’s Felix who shared data from various sources which prove that the rains in 2015 were genuinely unprecedented and those of 2023 were not labelled as unprecedented or a disaster by the IMD or any other weather agency.
Felix also shared data from various agencies and papers published in different journals and websites that indicate the monstrosity of the 2015 rains.
Tamil Nadu Weather Regional Meteorological Centre in Chennai published some data on the rains received as of 5 December 2023.
Seasonal rainfall from 1st October 2023 to December 4th 2023 at Chennai. Normal: 69cm, Actual: 89cm . Departure from Normal : +29%.
December 1st to 4th
Nugambakkam
Normal rainfall : 5cm
Actual : 58cm
Meenambakkam
Normal rainfall : 5cm
Actual : 50cm— Tamilnadu Weather-IMD (@ChennaiRmc) December 5, 2023
It is clear from this data that the rains were 29% more than normal. The post also has data from 1 December 2023 to 4 December 2023.
Data published by Astrophysics Data Systems – A NASA-aided organisation indicates that normal rainfall in 2015 from 1 November 2015 to 5 December 2015 was 408.4 mm while what we received was 1418.4 mm.
A paper published by the American Meteorological Society also states that “November had been the second wettest month in Chennai (1049 mm) in more than 100 years, but the main floods were caused by one day of extreme precipitation on 1 December. The commercial center, Chennai (formerly known as Madras), reported 24-hr precipitation from 0830 LT ranging from 77 to 494 mm at 18 stations, with a citywide-average of 286 mm (Fig. 17.1a). The city was declared a disaster area on 2 December after many areas, including the airport, were flooded.”
A weather-based initiative named World Weather Attribution on a page dedicated to the 2015 floods states that “A relentless downpour pounded Tamil Nadu’s capital city of Chennai on December 1, 2015, flooding and submerging one of India’s largest cities. The heaviest one-day rainfall in the region in more than a century – as much as 494 mm (19.45 inches) left more than three million people without basic services, collapsed roads and bridges, and halted air and train travel in and out of the city, stranding hundreds of passengers. “Chennai has become a small island,” said India Home Minister Rajnath Singh. The catastrophic rains not only isolated the city, but forced tens of thousands from their homes. The military dropped food supplies to residents stranded on rooftops. For the first time in its 137-year history, the local paper went unpublished because staff could not reach the press. On December 2, authorities declared Chennai a disaster zone.”
Felix in his video also shares data about the existing number of stormwater drains, and how these rainwater harvesting water systems and drains were blocked because of the dumping of garbage into these systems.
The YouTurn video parrots the same line as the DMK government saying people returned to their normal lives in 1-2 days, faster compared to 2015. They attribute this to the fact that stormwater drains worked! They also blamed the high tide as a reason for the slow draining of water into the sea. The video also states that stormwater drains were not functional in low-lying areas such as Tambaram, Pallikaranai, and Velachery.
During the floods, there were several fake pieces of information spreading on social media, however, these self-proclaimed fact-checking websites failed to do anything to quell rumours during a crisis.
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