A heavily-battered North Paravur in Ernakulam district has been left gasping for breath as the deluge has literally cut it off from adjoining areas.
Communication and connectivity, drinking water and power supply, all remain badly hit. Even relief and rescue measures remain hampered, as the ground level Revenue officials are marooned.
“Water level rose alarmingly this [Friday] morning. Many of our village officers remain marooned in camps, and their houses or even village offices could no longer be contacted. Even the collection of basic statistics like the number of camps and inmates has become impossible. Even a Deputy Collector who came along with rescue forces got stuck at Valia Pazhampilly Thuruth,” a senior Revenue official told The Hindu .
A rough estimate puts the number of relief camps at around 125, though the actual numbers may far exceed it. In fact, things have reached such a stage that the process of setting up designated camps and shifting people has been replaced by an ad hoc system of people taking refuge in all available shelters, which they thought were safe. Since buildings for running camps have run out of space, people are being moved to places like Thrikkakara and Kalamassery. Food is running short in many camps, with the movement of essential supplies hit owing to the heavy inundation.
“We are in desperate need for food, drinking water, and sanitary napkins. While water is yet to enter the camps, it has reached the premises,” said Roshni Raveendran, one of the 2,000-odd inmates of a camp at North Aduvassery in Paravur taluk. The inundation is so severe that several camps may have to be relocated if the water continues to rise.
“Naval boats remain the sole source to reach out. But they are now focusing on rescue measures rather than movement of supplies to relief camps,” sources said. With hundreds still trapped in houses and rooftops, rescue, indeed, remains the priority. Inundated roads mean that either boats or bigger vehicles like buses and lorries could be deployed in the area both for evacuation and supply of essential items. Even that remains a remote possibility with all routes from Paravur seriously hit.
“The road shortly after the Paravur bridge connecting Paravur with Thrissur and Kodungalloor remains flooded. Both the routes to Ernakulam also remain compromised, with traffic through the Cheriapilli bridge having been restricted after it developed a crack, whereas either side of the Arattu Kadavu bridge is so badly flooded that movement through it remains risky, with water level so high as to submerge the tyres of smaller vehicles,” said Suraj Sudan, a resident of Pattanam, who had since moved to Kakkanad.
With the Paravur-Cherai Road also flooded, Paravur remains literally isolated.
