In all likelihood, August 14 and 15, 2018, will be engraved as the darkest days in the modern history of Ranni and Aranmula.
Ranni town, a major market for hill produce and rubber, situated on the banks of the Pampa, was nearly submerged then by the slushy waters released from Anathode and Pampa dams of the Kerala State Electricity Board. The water swallowed even two-storey buildings.
In the next few hours, the muddy waters rushed to the downstream reaches of Ayroor, Kozhencherry, and Aranmula. Elders say that the deluge of August 15 crossed the level of the ‘great deluge of 1924,’ reaching the 11th of the 18 steps leading to the centuries’ old Sree Parthasarathy Temple situated at the highest point in Aranmula, on the banks of the Pampa.
Snakeboats damaged
Many Palliyodams (snakeboats) were damaged in the flood fury and the Aranmula metal mirror workshops were badly hit. People had no other option but to flee.
It took two to three days for the floodwaters to recede. People stayed at relief camps and in other buildings, including places of worship, which were thrown open to accommodate them.
The post-flood Ranni, Ayroor and Aranmula wear a warfield-like appearance. Roads and buildings are filled with two-to-three-foot-thick sticky mud and slush. All wells have been contaminated, leaving this part of Pampa river basin deprived of potable water. Relief materials poured in from all over India. Batches of volunteers extended helping hands. They cleaned houses, wells, shops, offices and roads and supplied drinking water, food and clothes. The cleaning work is still on. Many shops in Ranni town remain closed, as surveys by insurance companies are yet to be finished.
Banks submerged
Except Dhanlaxmi Bank, all banks in Ranni town were inundated. Vehicles parked at the courtyards, roads, and other public places were submerged. An automobile dealer in Kozhencherry said they had received complaints regarding 670 damaged vehicles as on Friday.
Now, the Pampa, Manimala and Achencoil rivers have gone down alarmingly, not to speak of the unprecedented groundwater depletion, leaving many wells, even along the river banks, dry. It may take months together for the affected areas to return to normality.
