The weather in Goa has been leaning towards the strange side these past few days. It’s unusually hot and extremely humid this summer. People are feeling ill thanks to the same. Even the weekend brought strange weather to the beaches. The North Goa beaches from Morjim to Keri saw high energy sea waves that destroyed a lot of beach shacks located close to the tide line.
High energy waves hit the shoreline
The Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS) had warned that Goa would see rough seas on the weekend. Rightly enough, the water levels from Morjim beach to Keri beach suddenly rose on Sunday afternoon.
The INCOIS issued an advisory saying that there was a possibility of the sea becoming rough near the shore and also the low-lying areas close to the beaches. It also said that certain areas would experience surges intermittently from Saturday morning to Sunday night due to the effect of high period (18-22 seconds) swell waves, having a height of 2.5-3 metres.
This advisory was issued to a number of other coastal states besides Goa and these included Union Territories as well. The INCOIS also mentioned that low lying areas like Panaji, Mormugao and Vaco could also be at risk for flooding thanks to the strong waves.
Given the status of the sea, the INCOIS’s advisory warned fishermen against going to out to fish, as well as locals to stay alert and cautious during this period. The advisory also warned against plying boats in the sea and asked boat owners to tie up their boats at safe distances from each other. All watersport activities were to be stopped over the weekend as well.
Strong sea surge for the coastline from Morjim to Keri
According to the newspaper reports, the beach stretch from Morjim to Keri saw some damage. The beach shacks in these areas are located close to the high tide line and therefore bore the brunt of the waves attacking the shore. Keri beach and its beach shacks saw a lot of damage on account of its proximity to the high tide line. It is also very close to the confluence of the river Tiracol and the Arabian sea which makes it a prime target for disaster.
According to shack owners, the waves got rough at approximately 3 pm on Sunday. Water swept into 6 shacks on Keri beach.
“Customers, especially foreigners, were eating at the shacks at the time when the water level suddenly rose and the rough waves hit the sandbags which serve as protection,” said Samir Harij, a shack owner from Keri.
Shack owners said that most of them removed their beach beds, tables, and chairs, minimizing the damage and loss. Damage to beach beds was reported at Keri. “We managed to move the tables and beach beds to safety. There was no major damage but business was affected for the day,” said Amar Talkar, another shack owner on Keri beach.
Big waves were also reported on Morjim, Mandrem, and Arambol beaches but the shack owners had already anticipated the possible damage. They moved their beach beds out of damage’s way and all was ok.
Below is a video that was taken by a visitor to one of the shacks on Keri beach documenting the disaster.
Information credit – The Navhind Times/ TOI
ItsGoa/APR/KDGP
