Wall to combat sea swells offers limited protection
The Meteorological Department has issued a white alert for high tides in some parts of the country.
By
Aminath Shifleen
The construction of an outbound wall at Henveiru Hiyfaseyha Maidan, which is an area of the capital city that gets flooded by swelling waves often, has provided great protection to the area from the high tide that swelled upon Male two days ago.
Whenever the tides swell around Male and flood the island, sea water spills on to land all the way up to Boduthakurufaanu Magu, especially from where the Salman Mosque is located. The previous government's decision to build the country's most expensive mosque in a flood-prone area was criticised at the time as well.
You don't see any damage to the parking zone or the Salman Mosque, do you? It was the protection from the construction of the sea wall.
However, the high tides that swelled into the city two days ago did not even reach the mosque. Male City Council said that the reason behind this is that the council had built a wall to combat the flooding caused by swelling. The wall, which was completed about three weeks ago, is expected to cover the parking zone in the vicinity, behind Salman Mosque.
“You don't see any damage to the parking zone or the Salman Mosque, do you? It was the protection from the construction of the sea wall," said Adam Rameez, the PPM MP from Central Henveiru constituency in the council.
"Otherwise, the high tide waves that crash onto land there will spread water all the way to the roads."
According to the Male City Council:
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There will be a distance of about 20 feet between the breakwater wall and the council’s new wall
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The height of the wall is about three feet
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The seawater from the waves that crash over the breakwater wall gets contained because of the new wall
According to the council, this was the exact purpose for building the wall; to combat swelling during high tide.
The carnival area was badly affected by the high tide that hit the city on Saturday. The Dolphin Cafe in the area was damaged and the ground floor of the establishment was not used at all on Saturday.
Rameez said the previous government had initiated a massive breakwater project using large stones to keep the tide out from that side of the island, but had been informed by the interim government a few weeks back that the project could not take off due to lack of funds, he said.
Rameez said that had the project been carried out, the area would not have suffered as much damage as it did on Saturday.
High tide warning
The Meteorological Department has issued a white alert for high tides in some parts of the country:
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High tide and swelling forecasted from K. atoll to Addu
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A white alert has been issued from 10.15am to 2pm on Sunday
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Wave height is said to be 2-5 feet
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Heavy to very heavy rainfall is likely to occur at central and south of Maldives
