Kochi: Once again heavy rain lashed parts of the district on Wednesday. Aluva and Kothamangalam taluk received incessant rainfall. As the rain has been lashing since Tuesday evening, the water level in Periyar and Muvatt-upuzha River saw a sudden increase which created panic among people residing in the nearby areas.
The roads and low lying areas in Aluva taluk remain inundated. Thott-akkattukara near Aluva was affected with heavy water-logging, which made movement difficult for vehicles.
“The Palamattam and Newline roads near the town experienced heavy waterlogging. Frequent rains are creating panic among the people as they had just cleaned most of the flooded houses. One more flooding will force them again to move to relief camps,” a resident of Aluva said.
The town also experienced water inundation, in places like Chemba-kassery road and Seminaryppadi.
About 150 metres of Karunalayam road near Aluva town caved in 15-metre depth two days ago, and the traffic along this route stopped. Officials estimated losses at `90 lakh. They pegged rain-related damage in Aluva area at `2 crore.
Meanwhile, people in Kothamangalam and Muvattupuzha areas panicked as the water level increased in the Muvattupuzha river. “The heavy rain started on Tuesday night. The water level has increased by around four feet. Now the rain has weakened. But if heavy rain lashes again, which is most unlikely, the areas will become heavily inundated,” Azeez Kunnappilly, an environmentalist said.
So far, 138 of the total 173 relief camps functioned in the district were closed down. At present, 3,116 people from 984 families are camping there. Of these, 15 are in Paravur, and nine in Aluva taluks.
The authorities have provided 1077 and 0484 2423513 as emergency numbers to contact the officials in case of any rain-related emergency. The call centre is available for 24x7.
