The flood situation in Chellanam panchayat turned grave following Friday’s heavy rainfall, with around 70 houses suffering damage and floodwaters entering a good share of 7,000 houses in the coastal region from Vachakkal to Manasery Saudi.
Many parts of the panchayat were inundated after seawater gushed in through gaps in the seawall last week. “The State government’s apathy in building a full-fledged sea wall and the delay in restoring groynes are to blame for thousands of people remaining marooned for days together. Measures like laying geo-textile tubes and sand bags are at best a temporary step. They have all been washed away within a week of they being laid,” said P.A. Dalfine, convenor of Pashchima Kochi Theera Samrakshana Samiti, who approached the High Court seeking a permanent solution to flooding in the panchayat.
The erection of a sea wall on the existing 200-metre gap in the Bazaar area alone will not ward off sea incursion. There are half-a-dozen other vulnerable spots as well. The government must focus on protecting a 16.5-km-long stretch to find a permanent solution to intense flooding during the monsoon. The district administration says it has sought ₹8.5 crore for a project to fend off waves. The Irrigation Department waits till February every year to award contract for such projects. In June, it would cite the monsoon as an excuse for non-completion of work. The entire stretch needs groynes and a sea wall, as has been done to protect the banks of the Navy’s INS Dronacharya in Fort Kochi, he added.
Furthermore, desilting of waterbodies like Uppathakadu in the panchayat alone will not suffice to prevent flooding. The panchayat must take steps to weed out encroachments, which have narrowed down the canal at many places, Mr. Dalfine said.
He also sought lifting of COVID-related restrictions in the area, saying there was only one active case in Ward 11. Over 280 persons whose houses were damaged in floods have been accommodated in a parish hall at Saudi, without adhering to the COVID protocol.
They were unable to relocate to relatives’ houses, since almost the entire panchayat remained a containment zone.
Sources in the Irrigation Department said work was under way to desilt canals, which were deposited with sediments brought in by sea water.
More projects are pending, for which there is acute fund paucity. Administrative sanction is awaited for pending work, they added. Two relief camps have been opened in the panchayat.
Total rainfall
Meanwhile, Ernakulam district received a total of 73.53 mm rainfall in the past 24 hours, beginning Thursday night. Trees got uprooted in several areas. The KSEB and Irrigation Department are measuring water levels in dams five times every day.
Camps opened
The district administration has opened 16 relief camps. A total of 475 people have been moved to these camps, including 43 children and differently abled people. They include families from P&T Colony in the city who were moved to Kendriya Vidyalaya, Kadavanthra.
Altogether, 650 buildings, which can be converted into relief camps, have been identified in the district. They can house a total of 1.30 lakh people, while adhering to COVID norms. People living in low-lying areas have been told to relocate to safer places.
