Sea surge swamps Chellanam panchayat

KOCHI: It seems there is no end to the woes of Chellanam residents.The surging tidal waves that started lashing the area following the onset of the Southwest Monsoon continued to batter the coastal village on Thursday inundating houses, damaging buildings and sweeping away people’s belongings.

The waves entered 250m into the village and people were seen shifting their belongings to safer places while wading through waist-deep water .“Five wards in the panchayat have been inundated and sea water has entered every house in areas like Bazaar, Companypady, Alungal, Vachakkal and Velankanni church area. The sea is turbulent and if this situation continues, we will have to shift everyone,” said Chellanam panchayat vice-president K D Prasad.

He said though the panchayat authorities had opened relief camps at Chellanam St Mary’s School and Kandakkadavu St Xavier’s School, people were reluctant to shift to the camps due to fear of Covid infection

With rivers breaching banks, the district administration has sounded an alert in Kothamangalam taluk. Relief camps have been set up at Kadavoor village in Paingottur panchayat and Neriamangalam and Jawahar Colony in Kothamangalam town. However, people are refusing to shift to the camps fearing Covid.

The camps have been divided into four sections. People in the general category, elderly, people under quarantine and people with Covid symptoms will be accommodated separately, said additional tahsildar Sunil Mathew. Meanwhile, strong winds damaged around 20 houses at Kottappady, Plamudy, Kuttamangalam and Pindimana areas on Thursday morning.

Tribal settlement areas inside the Kuttampuzha forest have been cut off from other parts of the district as water from the Pooyamkutty dam breached the banks, submerging Manikandanchal bridge.
People have been advised not to cross the river in country boats as the flow is strong.