From up North to down South Goa, beach shacks bear nature’s brunt

Team Herald 

PERNEM/MARGAO: High tides early Sunday morning reportedly due to the Ockhi cyclone that has hit Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Lakshadweep damaged several beach shacks at Arambol, Morjim, Mandrem and Cavelossim down south.

Around 13 shacks erected at Morjim were damaged while 8 each in Mandrem and Arambol too had to bear the brunt due to the rough weather conditions. 

The shack owners however managed to save some of the items. 

Shack owners claimed that mattresses, plastic tables and other items got soaked and damaged as the waves lashed the shacks. They further claimed that electronic items such as refrigerators too were damaged.

Some shacks even crashed while other owners managed to save their tents. The water level was so high that the waves inundated their kitchens and destroyed food items which were kept on ground.

Each shack owner has claimed loss of more than Rs 1 lakh. 

They also informed that similar incident had occurred a month back where in huge waves had washed away everything. It took nearly 8 days to re-install the shacks.

One D’Souza, a shack owner said, “This is a huge loss for us. Now, we require another eight days to re-install the shacks to start business. We have suffered a heavy loss since everything has been washed out and there is no sign of the water level receding.”

Daniel D’Souza, another shack owner said: ”This is a natural calamity due to which everything has been washed out. However, we managed to save some items such tables, chairs etc. Our refrigerators have been damaged, which need to be repaired or replaced.”

Daniel said, “We expect that government provide a helping hand. Also, we have paid almost Rs 2 lakh as licence fees to the government. We expect the government helps us by providing some funds or by waving off half of the licence fee amount”.

Meanwhile, shack owners at Cavelossim were in for a rude shock as the sea water suddenly rose and water entered the shacks leaving behind a trail of destruction. The water levels finally receded only after 11 am on Sunday morning.

One Domnick, the owner of Domnick Beach Shack and his staff were taken by surprise as four deck beds were washed away. “The water level rose suddenly and we could not do anything. However, we managed to save remaining beds and other material,” he said.

The neighbouring shack called Win Win’s Leisure Place belonging to Timothy Fernandes was also damaged as the floor tiles got dislodged and the sand piled up outside to refurbish the structure too was washed away.

Rosario Silva Monteiro, who owns a shack at Cavelossim beach suffered heavy losses as the sand which was used to give the shack the desired height was washed away. Rosario managed to save the tables, chairs along with the deck beds. Some wooden planks and tiles were damaged.

“The sand getting washed away is my biggest loss as I will have to now use the sand again and that will cost me around Rs 40,000,” he said.

Water levels started rising at the beach during the night, he said, pointing out that the currents at Cavelossim beach forced the water levels to move eastwards and up the sand. However, while last night it was just stray instances when the water moved up the beach, this morning it was quite intense and the water gushed over 10 metres from the High Tide Line.

“We will have to bear the losses ourselves as there is no scope for any compensation from any source for such calamity,” said Domnick.

The severe cyclonic storm 'Ockhi' lay centred on Sunday over east central and south east central Arabian Sea.