Heavy showers inundate city again in a span of just 10 days

Arterial stretches, including M.G. Road and Chittoor Road, go under water; narrow, choked drains blamed for the crisis; KSRTC cancels a few schedules

Sad plight: The Ernakulam KSRTC bus station was severely flooded on Thursday, with water from nearby drains and canal entering the premises.

Commuters, pedestrians, merchants, and residents had a harrowing time for the second day in the past 10 days due to intense waterlogging along arterial and side roads in the city, caused by continuous downpour.

Almost all arterial roads, including M.G. Road and Chittoor Road, were inundated, eliciting angry response from affected people who blamed narrow, encroached upon and choked drains for the pathetic state of affairs. Shop owners were seen signalling motorists to go slow to prevent stagnant water from entering their shops.

Fire and Rescue Services personnel said water had to be pumped out of several places including Paramara Road and the premises of SRV School. “Our personnel also helped relocate affected people from Goshree Islands to relief camps and hospitals,” an official said.

While rail traffic was not affected, a few KSRTC schedules were cancelled after water from drains and canals in the vicinity entered the Ernakulam bus station.

A Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) official called upon the Kochi Corporation to make effective use of high-power pumps that the agency had installed in Mullassery canal a year ago to pump out excess water, at the behest of Foundation for Restoration of National Values (FRNV), an NGO headed by Metroman E. Sreedharan.

City of woes: Motorists and pedestrians had a harrowing time after M.G. Road was inundated on Thursday following heavy rain.

Meanwhile, the Aam Aadmi Party, which has been in the forefront of agitations against encroachments and reclamation of waterbodies, demanded that the corporation remove the debris of old bridges which were dismantled, like the one beneath the Chilavannoor bund. “This and removal of other obstructions from the bell mouth of canals will considerably lessen waterlogging in the whole of the city,” said Foji John of the party.

Corporation works standing committee chairman P.M. Harris sought a drainage master plan to clean canals and inter-link them.

“The division councillors are duty-bound to effectively use the ₹3 lakh allotted to each of them for pre-monsoon drain-cleaning work,” he said.

Apart from choked drains, indiscriminate dumping of plastic bottles and other refuse into drains by residents, merchants, and vendors too is affecting the free flow of drain water, Mr. Harris complained.

The corporation must accord priority to ensuring uniform width of drains and canals through which rain and sewage water reach the backwaters and other waterbodies, said S. Gopakumar, president of Better Kochi Response Group, an NGO.

The sharp narrowing down of canals due to encroachments, construction of narrow culverts and too many pillars affect the smooth flow of water. Care must be taken so that bottlenecked portions of canals are widened, since water flow will be choked whenever canals narrow down. Such bottlenecks are easily visible in most places. Satellite images must be relied on, if need be. The civic agency is sitting over plenty of study reports which were done at a huge expense on deepening and widening Kochi’s canal network, Mr. Gopakumar said.

He exhorted stakeholders to learn from countries like Netherlands, which have a bulk of their land beneath the sea level. “On its part, the Railways have failed to widen their share of culverts, worsening flooding in the city,” he said.