Cyclone Dana, one of the most powerful storms to hit several coastal regions recently, leaves an impression on communities and ecosystems through several significant environmental effects. Such a storm is known to cause intensity and prolonged impacts and affected ecosystems, natural resources, and urban infrastructure, creating immediate disturbances and longer-term environmental challenges. Here are the seven main environmental impacts Cyclone Dana has brought to affected areas.
1. Coast Erosion and Habitat Loss
Cyclone Dana’s strong winds and tidal surges speed up coastal erosion, reshaping shorelines and impacting habitats. Beaches, dunes, and coastal wetlands were majorly impacted as waves stripped away the sand and vegetation. This erosion has disturbed wildlife habitats, putting species that shelter, breed, and seek food in coastal areas in danger. Coastal erosion impacts biodiversity in a cascading manner and also affects the economy by changing recreational beaches and fishing areas.
Natural coastal barriers, such as dunes and mangroves that also protect against the floods, are destroyed at parts. Besides weakening the shore, it exposes at-risk communities to further intensified storms and rising tides.
2)Flooding is accentuated and the water sources with broken protective coastal barriers tainted.
Heavy rainfall from Cyclone Dana caused heavy flooding, especially in flooded lower levels. Floodwaters brought contaminants into fresh water sources by carrying debris, wastes, and pollutants that flooded rivers, streams, and reservoirs. In the cities, the existence of pollutants in stormwater runoff has already affected drinking water quality, thereby causing health hazards as well as massive treatment efforts in water.
This flooding has also overstrained wastewater treatment facilities, and this is a significant cause of untreated sewage in local waterways. Such water pollution poses risks to human health as well as to aquatic life; therefore, the major issue in affected regions will be waterborne diseases.
3. Damage to Coral Reefs and Marine Life
The strong wave forces produced by Cyclone Dana damaged much of the sensitive coral reefs bordering coastal regions. Given their vulnerabilities to environmental variations, the strong waves created by Cyclone Dana created breaks in the physical structures of reef structures, moving fragmented corals and posing threats to marine biodiversity. Since these reefs serve as important habitats for numerous marine species, destruction disrupts food chains and impacts fishing communities that rely on the ecosystems.
Erosion from the floodwaters also endangers marine fauna. This sediment can smother the corals and prevent them from photosynthesizing and thus add more stress on these already heated and acidification-stressed ecosystems.
4. Destruction of forested area and increased landslide hazard
The high winds and rains associated with the cyclone destabilized the wooded regions, leading to deforestation and greater vulnerability to landslides. So, the soil structure in the hill area becomes weak with uprooted tree roots and destroyed vegetation, where a possible threat of landslide arises in those affected areas. Landslides do not only affect natural habitats but also threaten human infrastructures like roads, houses, and agricultural lands.
Deforestation, further aggravating landslides, leads to soil erosion and worsens the quality of land while limiting the reforestation process. Moreover, the destruction of trees leads to a loss in biodiversity, threatens local wildlife and impacts communities whose livelihoods depend on forest resources.
5. Effects on Agriculture and Food Security
Cyclone Dana destroyed agriculture farming in affected regions by wind-borne flooding that caused farmlands and crops flooded to become damaged; soil became oversaturated, not suitable for planting, and stunted crops already existing there; some of the sensitive crops to the effects of flooding included rice, maize, and vegetables, with most affected food supplies in local areas and food security strained.
Livestock is also impacted through flooded grazing fields and decreased fodder supplies. With plant and animal agriculture negatively impacted, the farmers might be economically damaged, and food shortages and higher prices appear in local communities.
6. Greenhouse gas emissions from decomposition increase
Cyclone Dana has destroyed plant matter, contributing significantly to organic decomposition processes that occur in affected zones. Uprooted plants decay, and different gaseous greenhouse emissions resulting from this process include methane and carbon dioxide. The extra release contributes to the even broader problem of global warming that, in the long run, worsens the influence of climate change.
Although such emissions are of secondary significance to industrial sources, they do show that man-made disasters are connected with each other as well as with climate change.
Unless the environment is cleaned up immediately and restored to a normal state, decomposition will continue, which may influence the quality of air and contribute to the enhancement of greenhouse gases.
7. Effect on Endangered Species
Some of the endangered species surviving around these places have seen their survival made more insecure by this storm. Habitat destruction, food scarcity, and increased predator chances are some of the serious risks. Coastal- and forest-living animals-the sea turtles, birds, and some amphibians- have lost their nesting places and some feeding areas.
Habitat disturbance of other marine species reliant on coral reefs and seagrass beds occurs. The increased resource competition with these struggling recovery ecosystems places added stress to endangered populations. These effects will be areas that require attention through conservation efforts if natural habitats are severely affected.
Into the Future: The Way to Recovery
The environmental effects of Cyclone Dana reinforce the necessity of having an all-rounded disaster response and climate resilience strategy in place. Habitat restoration in coastal zones, prevention of further land loss, and preservation of clean water sources will have to be undertaken to cushion the long-term impacts of the storm. Practitioners of conservation and policymakers might focus more on restoring ecosystems, particularly those with vulnerable species, and sustainable land management practices that can help mitigate the risks of landslides.
For urban areas, strengthening flood infrastructure and better management of stormwater are actions to be taken for the prevention of future water contamination that impacts public health. In addition, efforts at reforestation and reductions in greenhouse gases emanating from decomposing plant matter could reduce some environmental impact.
The increased frequent and intense storms call for more resilience in natural as well as human systems following Cyclone Dana. Therefore, it can be managed through sustainable planning, restoration projects, and climate mitigation policies on the part of the public and private sectors, respectively.
Source: EIB Survey