Mayhem: A stormy summer of catastrophe for rootless tree
This has been a stormy summer for the National Capital Region in general and Delhi in particular. The climate of the month of May, which is largely associated with high temperature and dry winds has come to be replaced by periodic rain-laden wind storms.
In the past fortnight, the city has witnessed two major storms on May 17 and May 21. While during the first storm the wind speed was 40-50 kilometres per hour, the second storm had the speed of 70-80 kilometres per hour. No wonder that the second storm saw reporting of 200 plus incidents of uprooted trees, collapsed structures, and damaged cars. Earlier on May 2, Delhi was battered by 77 mm of rainfall in a single day — the second-highest May rainfall ever recorded. The damage was swift and exacting.
In a region which has a huge automobile presence, and where the keeping of cars in garages went out of vogue several decades ago, the falling trees especially on cars and buses draw a picture of absolute mayhem. Last Wednesday, the Municipal Corporation of Delhi received at least 54 fallen tree complaints and 21 more were received from the NDMC area. Many crashed onto vehicles, requiring long hours of removal.
While the establishment has blamed the incidents on the unpredictable weather conditions caused by climate change, the fact is that even during the Monsoon rains trees do fall in Delhi. The main cause for the falls are that these tall green structures may help record beautiful satellite pictures of thick green cover, however, these trees are rootless wonders.
While several factors are attributed for the rickety health of trees in the national Capital, the most important factor is the depleting water table in the region.
The falling groundwater table in Delhi is not merely a water management issue but a much larger calamity, it's an ecological crisis that is silently killing the city's trees.
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