Sandbar on Galgibaga River partially washed away due to swelling of sea

Team Herald

CANACONA: A sizeable part of the natural sandbar which protects seawater from inundating the low lying residential areas on both the sides of Galgibaga River got partially washed away due to swelling of sea when the cyclone that hit Goa last week.

Kyarr, a rare tropical cyclone barrelling across the Arabian Sea, had reached the intensity of a category 4 hurricane, becoming the strongest storm recorded in the area for 12 years after ‘Gonu’, which had hit the western coast of India in 2007 and was considered the strongest-ever to lord over the Arabian Sea.

The natural offshore sandbar, extending from the Galgibaga landmass till the mouth of the Galgibaga River is about 200 mt in length, acts as a natural barrier which stops the direct ingress of seawater into the Galgibaga River and is a natural formation.

“With the huge waves sliding over the sandbar at two places, the vegetation which was holding the sand together, got washed away first and then the sand got washed away” an avid environment enthusiast Manoj Prabhugaonkar said.

“I saw the washed portion at two places when I climbed a coconut tree on Thursday,” Prabhugaonkar said. 

An elderly person staying near the confluence point of Galgibaga and Mashem Rivers, recollecting a similar incident that happened about 40 years ago, said that during that time the river got directly opened to the sea, the huge waves with no hurdle entered the river and hitting the land uprooting coconut trees close on the bank of this river.

Locals are worried that with Indian Meteorological Department predicting another cyclone in the next couple of days, it might inflict more damage to the already half washed out natural barrier.

“The beach creepers and other vegetation grown to protect the sandbar from erosion have also got washed away in the recent cyclone. Urgent steps are needed to protect the sandbar,” Prabhugaonkar emphasised.