The $550 million Doppler Weather Radar Monitoring Station, which was commissioned in 2009 with the intention of giving citizens ample warning of severe weather conditions, has been down for two weeks and the Hydrometeorologi-cal Service is waiting to procure a needed part from Germany so that it can be fixed, according to a source.
“It has been down for about two weeks and I can’t say how it was damaged but most likely wear and tear over the years. We have spares but that specific part we didn’t expect it to wear and tear. Unfor-tunately, it went down after the rainy season. Unfortu-nately, again, the rain is not the issue but the wind and we are trying our best to fix that as soon as possible,” a source, from the Hydromet Service, told Stabroek News on Tuesday.
The source added that it is expected that the radar will be repaired by the end of the month and the service is engaged in consultations with local and international engineers.