The densely-populated Kochi city was battered by an unabated spell of heavy rain accompanied by strong winds for hours since Saturday morning, leaving vast stretches of the city vulnerable to rain-related risks and roads inundated.

The city saw its worst flood situation since the onset of monsoon on May 24. Areas in the city traditionally vulnerable to flooding has been submerged as the rain continued relentlessly. For the first time this season, the M.G. Road was completely flooded. While uprooted trees disrupted power supply in many areas.

According to Mayor M. Anilkumar, “A low lying city like Kochi can hardly do anything when battered by heavy rain for over 3 hours without a break.”

“A motor installed for pumping out water from M.G. Road developed a snag. The situation was made worse by the fact that high tide continued till 2.30 p.m. preventing water from draining out to the backwater,” the Mayor said.

Areas near the KSRTC bus stand and Ernakulam South railway station, Monastery Road, Ashoka Lane, Vivekananda Road, Aysha Road, KP Vallon Road, Azad Road, Kaloor-Kadavanthra Road, Pachalam, Market Road have been flooded. “We deployed four centralised flood mitigation squads in addition to squads at the zonal level. It took time for the stagnated water to drain out owing to the high tide,” said an official with the Corporation health wing.

Padmaja S. Menon, division councillor for Ernakulam South, said that rather than pinpointing the affected areas it would be far easier to say that the entire division was flooded. Water entered many houses along Vivekananda Road while flooding was also reported along the Mullassery Canal, she said.

M.G. Aristotle, UDF parliamentary party leader in Kochi Corporation, accused the civic body of not having undertaken desilting of the Thevara-Perandoor Canal under ‘Operation Breakthrough’ in advance. Carrying out desilting works in July during the peak of the monsoon is a futile exercise, he said.

The inmates of the P&T Apartment complex reported heavy leakage of apartments as has been the case every time it rained ever since they were shifted there last year. Service roads of the national highway were flooded at many stretches and many two-wheelers could be seen wobbling in flood water. Areas where national highway widening works are underway were reduced to mud pool.

Coastal areas

Heavy flooding and sea incursion have been reported along the coastal stretches of Ernakulam district. A team from the Fire and Rescue Services was deployed for evacuating people living along Aniyil beach in Vypeen.

Kochuthresya Nishil, member of ward 13, one of the worst affected wards in Edavanakkad panchayat, said, “The situation is extremely bad in Edavanakkad and almost all 300-odd houses in a one km stretch in my ward along the seashore were invaded by waves. Some of the affected families were even finding it difficult to move out to the relief camp.”

Kochi taluk sources said that widespread damage was reported from the coastal belt of Edavanakkad, Nayarambalam, Vypeen, and other areas, which included tree fall. While authorities were prepared to open relief camps, many affected families were unwilling to shift.

Airport

Two domestic flights were diverted from the Kochi airport to Bengaluru and Coimbatore on Saturday morning owing to inclement weather.