Paper on events related to Climate Change in Mauritius
Between 13th and 19th January 2024, Mauritius was severely impacted by Cyclone Belal and Candice and some of the headlines read : Cyclone Belal causes heavy flooding in Mauritius after battering Reunion Mauritius is a tropical island regularly visited by cyclones and cyclones such as CAROL and ALIX in the late 1960’s brought a cultural change with construction of homes and other buildings in reinforced concrete as part of resilience building. Also, from experience over the years, Mauritius has in place, a tested and proven warning system with timely evacuation of residents from vulnerable areas to safe refuge centres. In this context we have a National Emergency Operation Centre (NEOC) since 2010. This centre becomes operational 24/7 the moment notice of heavy rainfall or cyclone is issued by the Meteorological Services. However, the recent cyclones and in general, weather patterns are showing that heavy deluge of rain are occurring over short periods leading to chaos leading to closure of schools and offices and heavy traffic jams, due to all trying to get home at the same time. In anticipation of these floodings, landslides, coastal erosion and coastal reprofiling, water security, Engineers are engaged in preparing a national drainage masterplan which is already being implemented in the worst flood prone areas. Cutoff drains upstream of residential areas as well as new drains in towns and villages are urgently being built to minimize overflooding by redirecting flows into newly created flood plains. For the low-lying area in the centre of Port Louis, where many parked vehicles were swept away, engineers have identified and recommended, that such areas are decreed as a no-parking zone when the meteorological services forecast 100 mm of rainfall in that catchment area for the duration of a specific timeframe. The coastal zone is proving to be the biggest challenge to prevent any coastal erosion and floodings because of 1) the waves (energy) impacting on the shore are from different direction depending on the coordinates of the cyclones and 2) when cyclonic conditions coincide with high tide resulting in backup of floods inland. Engineers contribution both in terms forecasting impacts from Cyclones and floodings to dealing with unforeseen situation such as resilience building for roads, and infrastructure are critical. The Institution of Engineers Mauritius is also driving a project for Engineering Graduate Degree courses, run by National Universities to be benchmarked with Washing Accord standards so that the Engineers of the future are educated to deal with as yet, unforeseen challenging issues. Raj H Prayag GOSK. PDSM. CEng. FIEM
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. Archives
November 2024
Categories |