KOCHI: By Saturday evening, the busy road near Kaloor bus stand no longer looked like one of Kochi’s busiest junctions. Brown floodwater spread across the stretch beneath the metro line, splashing against passing autorickshaws and buses as pedestrians stood helplessly at the roadside, searching for a safe place to step.
What began as an ordinary rainy day soon turned into another exhausting evening for hundreds of commuters.
Office-goers pulled up their clothes and carefully stepped into the water. Students waited at the roadside hoping vehicles would slow down before crossing. Some simply stood there, staring at the flooded road, unsure whether to walk through it or wait for the water to recede.
“I have to cross this road every day after college. Today I stood here for almost fifteen minutes because I was scared of slipping into a pothole,” said a student waiting near the bus stand.
For many pedestrians, the biggest fear was what lay hidden beneath the muddy water. Uneven roads, potholes and broken patches disappeared completely under the floodwater. “You cannot see anything under this water. One step is enough to lose balance,” said an elderly man who struggled to cross the road with an umbrella in one hand and his footwear in the other.
Vehicles moved slowly through the stretch, sending waves of dirty water onto the roadside. Auto drivers, used to the city’s monsoon chaos, said the flooding has become part of their daily routine during rains. “Just one day of rain is enough for this road to flood. Every year we face the same problem and every year people suffer,” said an autorickshaw driver waiting for passengers near Kaloor stand.
The flooded stretch also caused traffic congestion during peak hours, with buses and two-wheelers navigating cautiously through the waterlogged road. Commuters blamed clogged drains and poor maintenance for the recurring issue.