Heavy rain lashes Kochi

Kochi: Three persons were injured when the roof of a godown collapsed at noon in Bazar Road, Mattancherry, during heavy rains on Thursday. The injured, Fathima 32, Rahamat, 28 and her son Farhan have been admitted to Ernakulam Government General Hospital. “The over 70-year-old building was hired by a person recently and rented out to families to stay. There are several homeless families in Mattancherry residing in such dangerous warehouses. They should be rehabilitated to prevent such tragedies,” said T.K Ashraf, division councillor. 

The city and outskirts received heavy rains from Thursday morning. Low-lying areas were inundated and it was slow moving traffic everywhere.  Major roads in the city including South Railway Station Road, Arangath Cross Road, MG Road near SRV High School premises, Kalathiparamb Road were flooded during the incessant rains.

Office goers and school children had a tough time reaching their destinations. City traffic was choked in the unabated downpour and it took several hours for vehicles to cross major junctions like Vyttila, Edappally, Palarivattom and Kundannoor.  Traffic along the badly damaged Vyttila – Pettah stretch and parts of Tripunithura – Vaikkom Road was the worst affected.

 After the onset of monsoons this year, Ernakulam district received almost normal rainfall. From June 1 to September 13, the district received rainfall of 1656.3 millimeters while the normal rainfall was 1880.8 millimeters. As per MET Department data, Ernakulam South received rainfall of 18 mm while the Kochi Naval Base received 14.8 mm rainfall.  Piravom received the highest amount of rain(29.4 mm). Cochin international airport received 9.7 mm.