It rains misery in Kochi, suburbs, KOCHI: Unprecedented rains which lashed for over 24 hours, starting Sunday noon, threw life of citizens out of gear in the city on Monday. While waterlogging was not seen in most of the susceptible city roads, many low-lying areas in the city such as Karukappilly and a few areas in Kalamassery saw houses and streets experienced flooding with coastal areas in Chellanam facing the wrath of the sea. Two persons were reported missing on Monday from the district, while rescue workers retrieved the body of one of the two fishermen who drowned after their canoe capsized near Venduruthy Vikrant bridge on Saturday night. In Kalamassery, 80-odd families of Sneha Nagar near HMT Junction, were alarmed to see the water rising upto 4.5 feet on their premises, flooding their houses. "This is the first time we have seen such heavy flooding. Almost all families have moved from here to safe places. We do not know what will happen in the next few hours," said Sunil Joy, store manager with Reliance TimeOut, who had to wade to his house after work. The city and its outskirts received up to 11cm rainfall while the areas around the airport got 9cm of rain on Monday. The district received a total of 17cm rain and Piravom registered the highest at 15cm. In Aluva, residents in apartments situated on the banks of Periyar also had a tough time as ground floors and underground parking spaces were flooded. Fire and rescue teams from Angamaly, Fort Kochi, Mattancherry, Aluva and Kochi city were pressed into service to carry out the rescue operation. "The water level started to rise by 6am and around 50 houses were inundated. This is the first time in the last 20 years that water has entered houses in the area," said Anil M T, a resident of the Puliyannur-Kadathukadavu Road. Even as high tides hit the coastal areas with sea eroding and entering the roads, no casualty was reported from these areas of Chellanam and Vypeen. Bernard Benny, vice-president, Vypeen block panchayat, said that though there has not been any flooding of houses, there was severe waterlogging in the streets and residential areas. Commuting became a problem after the clogged drains flooded roads. Meanwhile, the district administration has opened 76 relief camps in the district. The damage caused by the rains has been estimated at Rs 14.74 crore. As per reports, 541 houses were damaged in the rains in the last two days. Around 2,500 persons have been shifted to relief camps in Paravoor taluk. Many houses in Kunnukara, Puthanvellikara, Kandungalloor, Karumalloor, Alangad, Chendamangalam, Paravoor taluk and Varappuzha were inundated in the rains. There are 26 relief camps in Paravoor taluk, followed by 18 in Aluva, 17 in Kothamangalam, eight in Muvattupuzha, five in Kunnathunadu and five in Kannayannur taluk. Administration has made all arrangements for people staying at relief centres. All the offices of the revenue department will function round-the-clock to provide assistance to affected people. In another development, the fire and rescue team fished out one of the bodies of the two fishermen who were reported missing after their canoe overturned near Venduruthy Vikrant bridge in the wee hours of Monday. The deceased has ben identified as Madhavan (74) of Kaithavallapu House, Paravoor. Police said that a search was on for the body of the other fisherman identified as Padmanabhan. People have been directed to stay away from river Periyar as the water level might increase suddenly.TOI
Posted on: Tue, 06 Aug 2013 06:06:43 +0000
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