KOCHI: It’s 7:30 am, and the Chellanam-Thoppumpady road stirs awake. Auto rickshaws ferrying school children, mini-trucks transporting fish, and motorists rushing to work slow down at Kattiparambu as the road lies flooded. January flooding might surprise outsiders, but for those living on the banks of Vembanad Lake, it’s routine.
The sea swells during the Malayalam month of Vrischikam (November-December), allowing saline water to enter the backwaters, which raises the lake’s water level. However, the situation has worsened in recent years, with water inundating thousands of houses, jeopardising lives and livelihoods. Sending children to school and shifting ailing elderly to hospitals from waterlogged homes have become a daily ordeal.
Wading carefully through the waterlogged stretch on his bike, Shaijan, a Kandakadavu native, explains that many are shifting to relatives’ houses as their own crumble due to saline water ingress. “Water has entered almost all the houses on the lake banks. This year is worse. Vehicles rust because we ride through water daily. The government should conduct dredging to increase the lake’s depth,” he says.
From Kandakadavu, K V Madanan, a daily wage worker, volunteers to show the plight of residents in Kannanthara Parambu and Otathara areas. Leaving the concrete road, we enter a muddy path where water rushes in from an adjacent canal. Wading through knee-deep water along a narrow embankment, we proceed cautiously. Boulders and tree roots beneath the surface make every step treacherous, with one slip potentially landing us in the deep canal.
About 150 metres in, we meet three children in school uniforms wading through the water. Sachin and Minsha brave the water, while Evania clings to her father’s shoulder.
Further ahead, the water reaches thigh-level, but Madanan reassures us. “Hold onto the trees on the left and feel the ground with your foot before each step,” he advises.
At Kannanthara Parambu, Pankaja, a housewife, hangs clothes on a line while standing in water. The house walls are visibly damaged. “Water starts entering the compound around 3am and drains out by 2pm. In the morning, there’s about two feet of water around the house. My kitchen is submerged, and I cook standing in knee-deep water,” she says.
Meanwhile, Thankamma, a widow, rows a canoe through the adjacent canal. “It’s difficult for women to wade through waist-deep water, so I use a canoe to reach the main road,” she explains.
“There are many elderly people here, and shifting them to hospitals is a challenge. At night, it’s especially risky,” Pankaja adds.
V S Joseph, a Class VI student at St Mary’s School in Chellanam, waits by a public tap for drinking water. “Water is supplied every two days, and it’s tough collecting water from the partially submerged tap,” he says.
Joseph didn’t attend school today because his teacher insisted on a proper uniform and shoes. “Students usually carry shoes in bags to avoid getting them soaked in muddy waters,” says his mother, Tintu, who works as a housemaid in Thoppumpady.
“The barrage for prawn farming is closed by mid-October, and by December, water levels start rising, inundating homes along the backwaters until March. The water regulator, controlled by prawn farmers, isn’t helping. I’ve been pleading to raise the bund road for 30 years,” says Madanan.
Kochi MLA K J Maxi has promised road improvements, but progress is slow. “My wife, who works at Puthenthode school, changes clothes at a friend’s house before work. Women can’t wade through water in sarees,” says Rajesh, a neighbour.
Madanan recounts how they shifted a relative’s body to the hospital by canoe. “When my brother died four months ago, we couldn’t bring his body home. Family functions are impossible here.”
Septic tanks are clogged, posing a hazard to public health. “Men and children visit houses on the other side, but what about elders and women? We’ve barely stepped out in days,” laments 74-year-old Babu. His wife Bernit and sister Shiela, both ailing, haven’t seen a doctor in over a month.
“This is not a local issue,” says activist V T Sebastian. “From Thanneermukkom to Muttar, Pathalam, and Purappillikavu bunds, thousands of houses are submerged. Silt accumulation has reduced Vembanad Lake’s depth by one-third. Construction debris has worsened the problem. Dredging is essential to remove silt and save these villages.”