The failure of flood control

Team Udayavani, May 30, 2018, 4:27 PM IST

Mangaluru: What was the district administration and Corporation doing when entire Mangaluru was trembling under torrential rains?

The residents of this city are asking this question. Although it has never rained so much in the history of this city, the district administration should none the less have been prepared for emergencies in light of the coming monsoon. But, when the citizens tried to seek help from the district administration, they were unable to contact them though it started raining since the morning on Tuesday.

On one side there was the tragedy of landslide while on the other side the school children were terrified to face the flood water which was increasing by the minute. The patients visiting the hospitals were left stranded there. By the time the shop owners had closed their shutters, the damage was done. They found their wares worth lakhs of rupees floating in the water.  The water inundated the entire city from markets to the offices, stranding everyone irrespective of where they are. Lives of the motorists turned into a battlefield with the water washing off roads and making all vehicular movement precarious.

At some places, the people stranded by the flood had to be evacuated on boats. At many places, water entered the houses. When people tried to contact the district administration on their helpline, they received no response. Later, the localities tried to contact their corporator but received no response. Finally, as a last option they tried to contact the corporation control room, but to no avail. When there came no response from those who were responsible for the safety of the people, the victims ended up standing helplessly in waist level of water inside their own homes in the company of their household goods floating in the floating within their inundated residence. The public suffering this plight have cursed the ineffective administration.

The smart city honoured district administration and the corporation have completely failed in protecting the stranded public and at effectively handling the emergencies caused by a whole day’s rain. The honour of all the related departments has been lost by just a day’s rain. Since a few years, Mangaluru city has been facing the threat of floods. This time, its intensity has increased has heightened.

There was flooding in some places last year which put the people’s life into chaos and caused massive damages and loss. Every year when there is a flood here the corporation officers, district administration officials and representatives of the people only conduct an operation which is like “closing the stable door after the horse has bolted.” 

Where was the administration defeated?

The corporation, district administration together with administration system has failed to face the arrival of the rains. The administration system had claimed that they were prepared for the monsoon. On May 21^st, it conducted a meeting and took stock on the precautionary action taken for monsoon rains, natural calamities and floods. But, now what the officials had claimed and what has actually happened seem to be opposites to each other.