The parapet wall of the children's park at Vizag’s RK Beach collapsed partially, while the soil along the wall developed big cracks, in the early hours of Sunday, December 5. A stretch of about 200 metres near the park caved in on Sunday, and the damage is believed to have been caused by sand erosion on the beach due to tidal waves triggered by cyclone Jawad. The lawn and walking track in the park also developed cracks, and the benches in the park were also damaged. Police set up barricades to prevent visitors from entering the park for safety reasons.
Chief Scientist at the National Institute of Oceanography in Visakhapatnam GPS Murthy told The Hindu that while sand erosion in the region is common at this time of the year, Sunday’s event was triggered by tidal action due to cyclonic weather under the influence of Jawad. Professor Dhananjay of Andhra University’s Department of Geology told BBC News Telugu that construction activity near the coast is also a possible reason for the strong waves and erosion, apart from cyclonic weather.
Beach erosion has been a recurring problem for Vizag. The beach near Kursura Submarine Museum has also witnessed severe erosion in the past. Earlier in February, the Visakhapatnam port had carried out maintenance dredging near the museum, as part of its beach nourishment program. The process involves removing large amounts of eroded sand and pumping it back into the beach. K Rama Mohan Rao, Chairman of Visakhapatnam Port Trust, had said that the beach has been witnessing a lot of sand erosion every time there were rains and high tide.
The #Childrenspark at #RkBeach in #Visakhapatnam suffered #sanderosion due to the impact of #CycloneJawad , the parapet wall of the park also partially collapsed. The lawn and walking track developed cracks, few cement benches in the park suffered damage. #Vizag #JawadCyclone pic.twitter.com/6OL1dEck02
— Surya Reddy (@jsuryareddy67) December 5, 2021
He said that the Visakhapatnam Port Trust plans to remove about 2.1 lakh cubic metres of sand from the sand trap area and pump it into the beach every year. The Port Trust has reached an agreement with the Dredging Corporation of India to carry out dredging at a cost of Rs 15 crore every year.