After the historic deluge wrought havoc in Kuttanad, things are far from normal in the region.
Vijayamma Baby, along with her three-year-old granddaughter Manikutty, is sitting on a bench at a gruel centre at Kuttamangalam in Kainakary grama panchayat. Vijayamma says she is awaiting the delivery of an LPG cylinder and packaged drinking water.
“We returned from the relief camp only last week. Authorities have informed us that they are going to wind up the gruel centre. We now need to start preparing food in our own houses. But, not even a piece of firewood is left in my place as the floods had washed away everything. We will have to start it from scratch,” she says.
First to leave homes
The residents of Kainakary are among the worst-affected. They were the first to leave their homes following the first flooding in June-July and the last to return after the deluge in August that engulfed the entire Rice Bowl of Kerala. Abandoned houses, damaged and tilted structures, and embankments filled with impaired furniture, equipment, clothes and mattresses bear testimony to the catastrophe. Though the majority of the people have returned home, there are certain pockets that continue to remain inundated.
“The reconstruction of breached outer bunds has almost been completed. The floodwaters have drained from 99 % of the region,” said Vinod B.K., Kuttamangalam ward member.
At the flood-ravaged SNDP Higher Secondary School, Kuttamangalam, which also houses Government Lower Primary School, Kuttamangalam, soaked files and books are being dried under sun. The watermark of the flood is high up on the walls of classrooms.
A visibly shaken Ayush Indrajith, a Class 4 student, has returned to the class for the first time after the floods.
His teacher Thankachan T.T. says Ayush’s family has moved to a rented house after their home was destroyed in the deluge.
“There are students who have not yet been able to come to school. Students have lost bags, uniforms and study materials in the floods,” he says.
Erratic water supply
Outside the school, Geetha Thirumeni is engaged in small talk with her neighbours on the bund road. She says water supply has become erratic since the floods and their only source of drinking water is the reverse osmosis plant at a nearby church. “No one from the government has so far visited our place to assess the flood damage,” she laments.
Appukuttan P.K., a farmer, says he is left jobless since the initial flooding.
Uncertain future
“The entire second crop was destroyed. The paddy fields are still flooded and we don’t know when things will become normal,” he says.
Now, with the puncha season around the corner, farmers in the region say preparing flood-hit paddy fields for farming is going to be a daunting task. Besides agriculture, the tourism sector is also facing crisis.
