Heavy downpour for a few hours early morning on Tuesday buried Kochi city under water, inundating even those areas that were unaffected even in the deluge of 2018.
Caught off guard
While the areas notorious for inundation in the very first spell of showers witnessed unprecedented flooding even by their standards, it was the flash floods in areas hitherto unaffected by the flooding in the past that caught the authorities off guard. Much to the relief of authorities, the rain relented and water started receding around 9.30 a.m.
The flooding led to power outage in several areas and the power hasn’t been restored despite a respite from rain for now.
“Not even during the 2018 floods did water entered our house. The work area was fully inundated damaging the refrigerator kept there while the water rose to a level submerging up to the silencer of the car parked in our portico,” said Naveen James, a lawyer residing along Pallissery Road between Thammanam and Bypass.
Flooding is nothing new to Giridhar Pai whose house along TD Road frequently gets inundated during every rain. “But this time was the worst as water rose to knee-high inside the house forcing us to shift the valuables,” he said.
‘all by-roads were submerged’
Vennala and its surrounding areas were one of the worst affected. “Almost all by-roads were submerged with water well above the knee level. A patrol pump in the area had to close down owing to flooding. Traffic block made the scene even worse,” said Bastin Sony, a resident of Vennala.
Amal Chakkalakkal, a resident of Ayyappankavu, was tensed as water kept rising inundating the water tank outside threatening to enter his house despite being built at a considerable height. “Most of the houses around us was flooded like never before. Had the rain continued for another hour, a mass evacuation would have become necessary,” he said.
Narendar Bhat, a resident of Elamakkara, had water enter his house for the first time ever submerging the washing machine. “The drain for the water to recede got covered by leaves and that made the situation even worse,” he said.
Mayor’s reaction
Mayor M. Anilkumar said that not many areas within the Kochi Corporation limits were spared in the hours-long rain havoc. Vaduthala, Kaloor, South, M.G. Road were all submerged bringing vehicular traffic to a complete halt at many places.
“The rain was unrelenting for about five hours since 4.30 a.m. It almost felt like a cloud burst. There was no rain alert for the district and with the kind of copious rain that lashed the city in such a short span hardly anything could have done even if there was an alert. Canals in the city were full to the brim leaving them with no carrying capacity to drain away flood water. Even the sea was reportedly rough making it even worse,” said Mr. Anilkumar.
Also read: Mullassery canal restoration work in Kochi may take months to resume
No time to react
Asked about the Operation Breakthrough aimed at fighting flooding, he said that it was primarily meant in areas known for frequent inundation. Though Corporation had the pump to flush out the water and workers ready, there was hardly anything they could do in the face of the rain fury.
That classes had already started in schools meant that there was little room for even opening relief camps. “There was nothing much to do other than wait for the rain to relent and water level to fall before doing anything,” said Mr. Anilkumar.
Aluva and surrounding areas along the banks of River Periyar were more or less spared this time.
