An National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) team comprising 28 personnel arrived in Kochi to step up flood relief efforts and to rescue people from affected areas.
A total of five multi-axle tipper lorries have been kept ready to relocate people to safer places. Personnel of the police, Fire and Rescue Services and Revenue departments have been directed to maintain utmost vigil in the entire coastal belt.
District Collector S. Suhas presided over a meeting of the District Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) that was convened to take stock of the situation in the district.
ADVERTISEMENT
T.A. Dalphine of the Pashchima Kochi Theera Samrakshana Samiti, an NGO, sought urgent steps by government agencies to save life and property of people residing in Chellanam, considering the fast-deteriorating situation.
Walls, shutter gates
People in the region have begun replacing the gates of their houses having compound wall with shutters, to prevent seawater incursion. Others are building walls measuring half-a-metre in height around their houses to prevent water entering their houses and shops.
ADVERTISEMENT
Relief centres
In the meantime, a total of 30 people were shifted to three relief camps in Kochi taluk, after COVID-19 test. They include two families from P&T Colony, and Kadavanthra. Those who report positive will be shifted to FLTCs.
Kochi Corporation works standing committee chairperson Sunitha Dixon said that high-power pumps would be deployed to pump out water from Mullassery Canal Road, Karikkamury, Kaloor KSEB sub station premises, and Panampilly Nagar. A few were deployed on Friday, she said, after inspecting a few such areas.
Trees that were uprooted in intense winds caused traffic hold-ups and power disruption in the city and suburbs.