Fire and Rescue Services personnel joined hands with residents of the coastal village of Chellanam as the latter returned home after four days of high waves and sea incursion that saw hundreds of houses get marooned.
A communication from the district administration said that rescue personnel led by District Fire Officer A.S. Geoji started cleaning up homes around 9 a.m on Thursday, and the efforts lasted till 4 p.m. As many as 136 persons, including civil defence volunteers, were engaged in cleaning houses, health centres, and schools.
The volunteers had also lined up 18,000 sacks filled with sand to be laid along the coast as a bulwark against further sea incursion and to enable people to use bylanes that were left with silt and slush washed up from the sea. Volunteers led by panchayat president K.D. Prasad also lent a helping hand.
The rural police took the lead in supplying drinking water in Chellanam panchayat, which has been facing acute shortage of potable water. “Drinking water will be brought to the coastal village in the coming days too,” said District Police Chief (Ernakulam Rural) K. Karthik. Health officials distributed medicines and gloves and cleaning materials to the residents.
TPR at 56%
Meanwhile, there is no let-up in COVID-19 spread in Chellanam, which recorded nearly 56% test positivity rate (TPR) over the past one week. Health Department sources said that of the 23 persons who were tested at a relief camp at St. Mary’s School on Wednesday, 12 had turned positive for SARS-CoV-2.
The daily COVID update showed that Chellanam continued to be among panchayats where the disease spread was high.
