Mumbai municipal body activates disaster plan amid fears of flooding
nMUMBAI: The maximum city breached the 40,000-mark of Covid-19 positive cases at the start of the week on Sunday. Its midweek forecast doesn’t look too rosy either — barely 9 nautical miles or 16 km (over sea) south of the city, a severe cyclonic storm is expected to make landfall on Wednesday afternoon.
Already stretched in resources due to the coronavirus pandemic, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) on Tuesday scrambled to activate its disaster response plan for cyclone Nisarga, which is likely to cause very heavy rainfall and bring with it the threat of inundation in the city’s low-lying areas including Dharavi, Dadar and Mahim, all of which fall within G-ward, which has the highest number of Covid positive cases in the city.
In fact, many of the city’s lowlying areas, such as Kurla, Byculla, Wadala, and Andheri have recorded some of the highest numbers of infections, thus raising concern over the impending strain on healthcare facilities. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) said that Mumbai is likely to experience extremely heavy rainfall and high speed winds due to the cyclone, which in turn is expected to have the worst impact on slums and tenements, as well as disrupt power and water supply and cause havoc through tree falls and flooding.
Municipal Commissioner IS Chahal instructed all ward officers to identify evacuees, and safe shelters, and prepare evacuation plans, the BMC said in a press release. However the details of these shelters and evacuation plans were not made available by the municipal body. Assistant commissioners of at least three wards that HT spoke to confirmed that all preparations for evacuation were being made, but evacuees were not actually moved to safe shelters yet. This will only be done if it is absolutely necessary — an indication that the spread of Covid-19 continues to remain top concern for city officials.
“I have identified evacuees, and have two-three schools ready as shelters. But social distancing is a must in Covid-19 times. So they are safe in their homes also. They will be moved immediately if it appears cyclonic conditions are worsening,” an official, who did not wish to be named, told HT.
In a meeting with state minister Aaditya Thackeray, Chahal said that in light of the possibility of torrential rains, dewatering pumps have been installed at potential water storage sites. Contractors have been given notice to secure cranes at construction sites and lifeguards have been deployed at various intersections. Equipment like rescue boats and jet skis have been deployed.
The BMC also announced that it had identified high risk localities as well as residents, who may need to be moved to shelters, which are being readied in municipal schools across the city. At least 150 Covid-19 patients were shifted out of a temporary facility constructed at the Bandra Kurla Complex on Tuesday. “The
District-level wind speed warning for Wednesday (in kmph) Expected inundation extent due to storm surge (in km)
“Some of the weakest cyclones at sea are being strengthened due to global warming and climate change impacts,” Anjal Prakash, author of an Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report, said.
The name, Nisarga proposed by Bangladesh, means ‘nature’. It comes in the wake of cyclone Amphan that devastated the lives of over a million people and left 86 dead when it made landfall on May 21 at the Sunderbans, in West Bengal.
“Our weather models are showing the landfall north of Mumbai with crucial period of extremely heavy rain and gale winds expected from Tuesday evening to Wednesday afternoon,” said Mahesh Palawat, vice president (meteorology and climate change). structural stability of all temporary Covid Care Centres and health facilities is being checked. But the one at BKC was constructed temporarily in an open ground, to house covid-19 patients,” a senior civic officer said.
However, the BMC’S emergency helpline 1916 — with 60 hotlines operating from the disaster control room at the municipal headquarters — which is used for all disaster response and Covid-19 related calls, became un-operational on Tuesday evening. A phone call to the helpline played the message “This number does not exist”. Officers from the disaster management department remained unavailable for comment.
“The overall preparedness of the city is good because we were already preparing for monsoon, which is torrential in Mumbai. So trees have been trimmed, dewatering pumps are active for monsoon, preparedness to handle inundation in low lying areas is there. An evacuation plan for residents living along Mithi river has been activated; landslide prone areas have been identified, along with dilapidated buildings,” a senior civic officer, who did not wish to be named, told HT.
BMC
ADVISORY
FOR CITIZENS Dos
Stay away from windows Tie loose things outside the house
Seal important documents and jewellery in a plastic bag
Switch off power supply incase of sparks in electric equipment
Don'ts
Stay at the corners of a room as debris accumulate in corners Leave battery operated and reserved power systems unispected
Keep power supplied to all non-emergency electric equipment and tools
Vasai
Thane
Alibaug
Dapoli
MUMBAI: A day before tropical cyclonic storm Nisarga was expected to make landfall just south of Mumbai bringing with it high speed winds and very heavy rainfall, Maharashtra and Gujarat began evacuating thousands of residents of coastal districts, even as Prime Minister Narendra Modi assured the chief ministers of both states on Tuesday of help from the Centre.
The severe cyclonic storm with an expected wind speed ranging from 100-110 kmph (gusting to 120 kmph) is likely to make landfall near Alibaug in Raigad district on Wednesday afternoon according to a forecast by the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD).
This comes at a time when both states are already reeling under a high caseload of Covid-19 infections — while Maharashtra recorded 72,300 cases, Gujarat recorded 17,632 cases as on June 2 — raising concerns over the strain it would place on their health care infrastructure and municipal resources.
While Gujarat had started moving 13,000 people from coastal areas, Maharashtra had evacuated at least 7,600 people till Tuesday evening. Another 21,000 are expected to be moved from Palghar and at least 35,000 residents of Raigad — where the cyclone is expected to make landfall — will be evacuated, as well.
The National Disaster Relief Force (NDRF) has deployed 40 teams in Maharashtra, Gujarat and the UT.
Five additional NDRF teams from Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh will be airlifted and deployed in Mumbai by Wednesday morning, a senior commander from NDRF said. State disaster relief teams have also been activated.
Officials of Gujarat and Maharashtra said that care was being taken to ensure separation of Covid-19 positive cases from others during the evacuation efforts. Anupam Srivastava, NDRF Maharashtra commandant, said each jawan has been provided with a rescuer Covid kit. “It will
Pen be a difficult rescue operation, but we are well-prepared,” Srivastava said.
Pankaj Kumar, additional chief secretary (ACS), revenue of Gujarat said that rescue teams were equipped with masks, PPE kits and hand sanitiser. “We will ensure that power cut doesn’t affect functioning of Covid-19 hospitals,” Kumar said.
On Tuesday, Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray asked local residents to not step out of their houses on Wednesday and Thursday, and ordered establishments, which had opened in the past few days after the lockdown, to stay shut.
Of the seven districts likely to be affected in Maharashtra, Sindhudurg and Ratnagiri have more tehsils at the elevation of just 5 to 15 m above sea level, putting them at greater risk of inundation in the event of very heavy rainfall as predicted. Most of the district collectors have imposed curfew in the tehsils expected to be hit of cyclone over next three days.
Ganesh Kashnath Lohar, 30, a fisherman who resides 500-metres from the coast close to Mandwa jetty in Alibaug was surprised to see four boats and 13 officials of the Maharashra Maritime Board, district collector’s office and NDRF on Tuesday, as they assessed the level of storm surge in the region.
“We had only heard about devastating impacts that cyclones had caused in south Konkan but now, based on warnings issued by district officials, we are expecting to witness it first hand,” said Lohar, adding, “First it was the lockdown that restricted fishing for almost the entire month of March, and then when we began fishing for just over a month, now a cyclone is coming.”
Mumbai, Raigad, Thane and Palghar
A cyclonic storm that travels at 89-117kmph is categorised as a severe cyclonic storm. By comparison, Cyclone Amphan, which was a super cyclone, travelled at a speed of 220kmph, but made landfall as a very severe cyclonic storm, which is characterised by speeds of 118-164kmph
The difference between the actual n water level under the influence of a meteorological disturbance (storm tide) and the level, which would have been reached in the absence of the meteorological disturbance (astronomical tide). Storm surge results mainly from the shoreward movement of water under the action of wind stress.
Storm surge is expected to be about 1-2 meters n height above astronomical tide and is likely to inundate low lying areas of Mumbai, Thane and Raigad districts and 0.5-1 meter height above the astronomical tide likely to inundate low lying areas of Ratnagiri district during the time of landfall.
THE BMC ANNOUNCED THAT IT HAD IDENTIFIED HIGH RISK LOCALITIES AS WELL AS RESIDENTS WHO MAY NEED TO BE MOVED TO SHELTERS, WHICH ARE BEING READIED IN MUNICIPAL SCHOOLS IN THE CITY
OFFICIALS OF GUJARAT AND MAHARASHTRA SAID THAT CARE WAS BEING TAKEN TO ENSURE SEPARATION OF COVID-19 POSITIVE CASES FROM OTHERS DURING THE EVACUATION EFFORTS
Tides are long-period waves that move through the oceans in response to the forces exerted by the moon and sun. Tides originate in the oceans and progress toward the coastlines where they appear as the regular rise and fall of the sea surface.
Development or strengthening of cyclonic circulation in the atmosphere (a low pressure system)
A tropical cyclone can be compared to a heat engine. The energy input is from warm water and humid air over tropical oceans. When the sea surface temperature is warmer than normal e.g: it is about 32 degree C in parts