‘Locals rushed to pick up mangoes while NDRF team cleared trees’

As the wind picked up around 10.30am on Wednesday, news came in that cyclone Nisarga, which had already changed course once, may not make landfall on Alibag after

As the wind picked up around 10.30am on Wednesday, news came in that cyclone Nisarga, which had already changed course once, may not make landfall on Alibag after all. After first changing course earlier this week, so that its path crossed south of Mumbai instead of passing over the north of the city, the cylone was now expected to make landfall at Murud, almost 54 kilometres (km) from Alibag.

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Armed with raincoats, mechanical tree-cutters, rope and other equipment, three teams of National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) personnel moved out of Alibag towards Murud.

Since May 31, a day after the India Meteorological Department (IMD) raised a warning about a cyclonic storm brewing in the Arabian Sea, NDRF has had four teams in Alibag. Each team has 23 NDRF personnel.

To the journalists at the Alibag camp, NDRF inspector (in-charge of Alibag) Mahesh Kumar said on Wednesday, “If you are here to cover the cyclone, I suggest you stop here with my team and I. Two other vehicles are going to be stationed at possible locations of landfall where there is no shelter. For the next four hours, we can promise your safety, but they cannot.”

After Mumbai recorded relatively low rainfall on Tuesday night, independent meteorologists said the cyclone was weakening. When the HT team arrived in Alibag on Wednesday morning, the streets were deserted, the sky was darkly overcast and it was drizzling.

Four hours later, the wind was loud and chaotic as it rushed through trees and there was the percussion of tin sheds bouncing as the wind tugged at them. A few flew off.

At 12.15pm Wednesday, Kumar announced Cyclone Nisarga had made landfall. “I did not expect the weather system would maintain its severe cyclone status after landfall. In fact, it is moving at 110 kmph at the location we are at,” said Kumar after reading out the latest message from IMD off his phone.

Information on the impact of the cyclone in Raigad district started coming in to NDRF swiftly. “We carried out extensive awareness sessions across villages and with district officers from March 31 itself, and explained to those being relocated to shelters to keep a track of issues during the cyclone,” said an NDRF officer. Consequently, within 90 minutes of landfall, NDRF had a preliminary list of tree fall incidents, destruction of communication lines as well blocked roads, thanks to information supplied to them by locals, across a 10km radius. “This will help us during our-post cyclone interventions,” said Kumar, who kept updating journalists with news of the cyclone’s path and the infrastructural damage it was inflicting on the area.

“When a cyclone makes landfall, one should remember to find the closest shelter. It has to be a concrete structure and one should not leave until the wind speed drops substantially,” said Kumar.

Even before the storm had calmed, the NDRF team was loading equipment into their vehicles in preparation of their next step. “It [the cyclone] will stop at 4pm. Based on a meeting with the district collector, the process for estimating on-ground damages will begin,” said Suresh Sharma, another NDRF officer.

By 6pm, 26 officers had been divided into groups of two, which fanned out across Alibag, to places that had reported tree fall and road blocks. While civilians picked up mangoes from fallen trees, the officers worked to remove branches and trunks of 44 large trees by 8pm. This was only the beginning of a long night’s work. “Our work will continue through the night. It will take three days to ensure normalcy in this district again, but we have to ensure any threat to civilians is minimised so that they are prepared for the next disaster awaiting them. After all, it hasn’t been the best year so far,” said Kumar.