The ugly underbelly of the State’s capital city was wrenched open on Wednesday by a 9-cm rainfall, bringing its dirty contents, ranging from decaying animal carcasses to domestic waste and all sorts of garbage, floating on the roads and into houses in low lying areas.
The drainage system of the city, just like on December 31, 2011, proved to have gone kaput long back.
The rains, which began in the wee hours of the day and lingered on long enough to expose the messed up drainage network, left over 170 families from the Karimadom Colony huddling together in two relief camps set up in the Kuriathy Lower Primary School and the Kamaleswaram Government Higher Secondary School.
The inundated Attakulangara bypass saw hour-long traffic jams and railway traffic was affected due to landslides at Valiyashala and Kochuveli.
House damaged
As per official figures, one house in Pettah was completely damaged while nine others, six in Kallara and Karipur of Nedumangadu taluk and three in Karode and Vizhinjam areas of Neyyattinkara taluk, reported partial damage.
Scores of houses across the district saw rainwater seeping in while several trees were uprooted, falling atop houses and blocking traffic at many points in and around the city. Trees were uprooted at Thycaud Guest House, Raj Bhavan, Ulloor, Perunthanni and Muttathara, forcing the Fire and Rescue Services personnel to come in.
At Karimadom Colony, lack of adequate equipment and absence of channels to pump out the water aggravated the situation, the rescue personnel said.
Dam shutters opened
The rain also saw the Irrigation Department resorting to precautionary measures by opening all the shutters of Neyyar Dam, where the water level reached 84.5m against the maximum level of 84.75m. There was no panic situation, however, officials said, adding that on the levels were still low compared to the 84.70m recorded on November 3. The Kerala Water Authority too opened all four shutters, against the usual three, of the Aruvikkara reservoir.
The move was termed ‘precautionary’ by officials.
Earlier in the day, roads were flooded in the East Fort area, with devotees having to wade through knee-deep water to Ganapathy Kovil. At Manacaud, Pettah and Kannamoola, sewage filled up latrines and bathrooms were flooded as waste water returned through the outlets. Karimadom Colony was the worst affected, with huge chunks of garbage blocking the drainage there and pushing the garbage into the huts there.
