How preparedness took the edge off Cyclone Nivar

Since December 2015, Chennai residents have lived in concern of a monsoon crippling life as they realize it. For the residents of northern Tamil Nadu, it was the reminiscence of Cyclone Thane; for the Cauvery delta area, that concern was evoked after Cyclone Gaja; and for southern Tamil Nadu, it was Cyclone Ockhi that put the concern in folks’s minds. Over the previous couple of years, Tamil Nadu has suffered a lot from the assault of climate techniques. In distinction, final week’s Cyclone Nivar appeared far much less harmful. Nivar that made landfall close to Marakkanam in the early hours of November 26 did depart components of the State underneath water, inflicting injury to lives and property. But the influence was minimised not solely due to the means the storm blew but additionally as as a result of authorities businesses and catastrophe administration groups had been higher ready.

The expertise from the previous cyclones, nevertheless, shaped benchmarks for the authorities businesses to construct higher coordination, chalk out plans and implement a portion of the long- time period flood mitigation tasks.

Though Cyclone Nivar crossed the coast as a really extreme cyclonic storm and introduced on rains of heavy to extraordinarily heavy depth, the quantity of rainfall was distributed over three days in varied locations alongside the coast and inside locations.

The Tamil Nadu authorities had deputed senior IAS officers and Ministers to coordinate preparatory measures like shifting of individuals from low-level and weak areas to safer locations, mobilising tools and taking post-landfall measures together with the Collectors. the India Meteorological Department’s frequent alerts and exact forecasting of the landfall helped native our bodies and residents put together for the cyclone.

While rainwater did flood weak localities of Chennai owing to the incessant rain that began two days earlier than the landfall, residents famous that desilting of minor waterways and stormwater drains by the Greater Chennai Corporation helped to stop waterlogging in components of the metropolis which are normally flooded.

But extremely weak areas comparable to Mudichur, Varadharajapuram and components of West Tambaram had been surrounded by sheets of water. Heavy rain of 31 cm at Tambaram on November 26 added to the woes. While it was not like 2015, residents famous that some tasks had been executed in the southern suburbs. But these areas want a everlasting answer to inundation in subsequent monsoon cycles.

Admitting that solely 30%-40% of the interventions had been in a position to be applied, officers of the Water Resources Department stated the surplus of 4 tanks come collectively on the Varadharajapuram stretch of the Adyar. “We have improved the capacity of culverts in these low-level areas, but need to develop infrastructure and deal with encroachments. We have chalked out projects costing ₹3,000 crore and await World Bank funding,” stated an official.

Meanwhile, the 2015-like calamitous flooding of the Adyar and the Kosasthalaiyar was averted as the authorities determined to permit measured water launch from the Chembarambakkam and Poondi reservoirs throughout and after Cyclone Nivar. Anticipating further influx and rains, the Water Resources Department regulated the launch in accordance with the stream obtained at two-hour intervals. This gave adequate time for the river to hold the water with out spillover.

Building flood regulators, desilting of waterbodies upstream of the Chembarambakkam reservoir and the Adyar and emptying small quantities of water from lakes forward of the cyclone helped in mitigating floods and retailer greater than 500 million cubic ft (mcft) of water in lakes in the Adyar basin. “Nearly 2,000 mcft was drained into the Adyar. When the ongoing works to build a reservoir and check-dams in the Adyar basin are completed, we will be able to save 1,000 mcft,” the official stated.

However, consultants famous that if the Chembarambakkam reservoir had been correctly desilted, the water launch may have been averted or delayed even additional. While appreciating the transfer to keep up cupboard space in the lakes, L. Elango, Professor, Department of Geology, Anna University, stated, “We had recommended that the Chembarambakkam lake be deepened by one metre greater than its original capacity to enhance its storage.”

He additionally elaborated on the proposal to hold water from the Chembarambakkam reservoir to Sikkarayapuram quarries that started for use as storage buildings for the metropolis’s water provide. This could possibly be performed throughout floods and droughts to stop loss.

Research scholar Rinisha Kartheeswari stated the extra water could possibly be transported by means of a mix of a two-km open channel and pipelines. Similar preparations could possibly be made to convey water to quarries at Erumaiyur and Tiruneermalai.

But WRD officers stated they want no less than eight years for finishing up the total desilting train. Only 20% of desilting could possibly be performed in the Chembarambakkam lake inside the restricted time out there, they stated.

Outcomes of aggressive politics

In the hamlets of the Union Territory of Puducherry and the adjoining Tamil Nadu districts of Cuddalore and Villupuram, hectic exercise began in the coastal villages a day forward. This helped to scale back the influence. As per the recommendation of the Fisheries Department, folks shifted boats and nets from the shore. Boats anchored at the harbours had been tied to stop injury by heavy winds. “Evacuation of fishermen to safer places is usually challenging. But this time, there was not much reluctance,” stated an official of the Revenue Department.

While legislation enforcement businesses opined that the injury would have been extra had the wind velocity been at its most, officers of the meteorological division confirmed that winds lashed at 120 kmph at the time of the landfall. The meteorological division was collating stories on the extent of destruction. “It may have passed through uninhabited places or salt pans where damage is not immediately known,” stated an official of the meteorological division.

Weather professional Y.E.A. Raj stated, “The system moved rapidly inland after making landfall. This could have reduced damage, unlike the previous cyclones. The type of vegetation and housing it encounters also matters.”

Preparedness was the key to the proven fact that no lives had been misplaced in the Union Territory, officers stated. Section 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure was invoked in the Puducherry and Karaikal areas to curtail the motion of individuals. Meetings and frequent visits by Lt. Governor Kiran Bedi and Chief Minister V. Narayanasamy put the officialdom on its toes.

Apart from the help of the NDRF, 100 personnel from the Army’s humanitarian help and catastrophe aid unit had been deployed for rescue operations. Pruning of tree branches restricted injury. The low-level areas had been flooded once more.

The Tamil Nadu authorities was fast to depute Principal Secretary Gagandeep Singh Bedi to Cuddalore to help the Cuddalore district administration, which had recognized 278 weak areas and cleaned up stormwater drains. The Villupuram administration focussed on evacuation of individuals from Boomayarapalayam, Kottakkuppam and Marakkanam. Police presence ensured that fishermen didn’t keep close to the shore throughout the landfall.

Emergency response

Disaster administration groups had been ready to face nature’s fury on the scale of Cyclone Gaja and NDRF groups had been positioned hours earlier than the cyclone hit the coast. They stepped in to clear the roads of fallen timber, electrical poles and cables.

Revenue and panchayat employees had been current in the villages on the evening of landfall and made higher preparations than what had been in place throughout Cyclone Gaja, stated R. Perumal of K. Gudalure close to Kollidam on the borders of Nagapattinam and Cuddalore districts.

The effectivity of rescue and aid measures would have introduced again normalcy in a number of days had a cyclone of the velocity of Gaja struck in Nagapattinam. Within a day of holding a overview assembly, groups of the Revenue, Police and Rural Development Departments shifted 59,171 folks to protected locations. “We were particular about preventing destruction and bringing back normalcy quickly. We believe we have achieved them,” Nagapattinam Collector Praveen P. Nair stated.

(With inputs from Rajesh B. Nair in Puducherry and C. Jaishankar in Nagapattinam)