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.
