Panjim: On 6 August, all nine rivers of India’s smallest state spilled their banks and spread fast into paddy fields, then flooded right into villages and towns. Incessant, pounding rain and shearing winds collapsed electricity poles and satellite towers. The main interstate approach roads through the Western Ghats (as well as Konkan Railway) were shut down by landslides, and many of the new haphazardly built roadways flooded precipitously. The gleaming Atal Setu bridge, opened in January with much fanfare by late chief minister Manohar Parrikar was plunged into darkness, inaccessible due to several feet of water pooled at one end. Goa reeled, submerged.

That is when social media came alive with reminders of the similarly devastating floods in Kerala precisely one year ago. At that time, ecologist Madhav Gadgil (who headed the Western Ghats Ecology Expert Panel of the ministry of environment and forests) warned the Goan media: “Goa will be next. I am sure there will be all kinds of problems there because the greed for enormous profits has been allowed to go on unchecked."

Gadgil believed Kerala’s plight could have been mitigated if his panel’s recommendations to drastically curb “developmental activities" in the Western Ghats were followed.

https://www.livemint.com/news/india/living-on-the-edge-in-india-s-coastlines-1566239091032.html