Vishakhapatanam: Sand erosion, believed to have been caused by giant tidal waves under influence of weakened cyclonic storm Jawad on Sunday, damaged the parapet wall of Children’s Park along the RK beach road.
“Nearly 200 metres of the park’s parapet wall has collapsed. We, along with VMRDA and Visakhapatnam Port Trust, will visit damaged site and decide on our future course of action,” GVMC mayor Hari Venkata Kumari told Deccan Chronicle.
A GVMC engineer, who visited the spot, said soil along the wall has completely eroded, resulting in cracks on the wall. The incident might have occurred during wee hours of Sunday.
As a precautionary measure, the park has been closed to visitors for time being.
Apart from the wall, some infrastructure facilities like benches, lawn and children’s arena inside the park have also been partially damaged. City traffic police blocked the road along the park in the morning. They withdrew the restrictions towards Sunday evening.
“The beach road, however, is clear, as it has not been affected by erosion. We are anyway continuously monitoring the situation,” traffic ADCP Adinarayana told this newspaper.
According to oceanographic experts, sea condition was rough when Cyclone Jawad passed close to Visakhapatnam coast on Saturday. Since re-curving of the storm took place near the Vizag coast, wind and wave patterns would have been rough to very rough. Surge in the sea could also have caused erosion, experts stated.
