MUKKULAM (KOKKAYAR): “My house was a simple plastic-covered shed. It was right here,” said 68-year-old Amminiamma, pointing towards a broken plastic chair lying on deserted land. A raging Yendayar river had washed away her ‘house’, leaving no mark of its existence in the area.
A series of landslides in high-range areas including Elamkadu Top, Mlakkara and Kodunga had caused the river to deviate from its path and flow through human settlements in Mukkulam instead, destroying houses and properties of as many as 13 families. Mukkulam is the first ward of Kokkayar grama panchayat bordering Koottikkal panchayat.
“We were suddenly trapped between the river and a new water channel that had formed after the river deviated from its path. In a few minutes, water surrounded our houses. A few people carried toddlers on their shoulders and ran. Some men came and rescued us,” said Amminiamma, quivering while talking about the nightmarish experience. Had it happened in the night, hundreds of people would have lost their lives, she added.
Sujatha, who resides in the same area, said living there was no longer a possibility as the river has changed its path completely. “How can we live here with our kids? This place is not safe anymore,” she said, forlornly looking at her own damaged house.
Though a suggestion was raised to construct a retaining wall on the river bank to restore the path of the river, local people said it would be of little help. The river flowed through more than two hectares of human settlement, changing the entire character of the land. Construction of new houses here seems like a daunting task, they pointed out.
“We hope the government will take steps to help us. We lost everything in the flood, from the title documents of our land to our children’s textbooks. As the water receded, there was nothing left in our houses. Not even pieces of broken pots,” Sujatha said.
M S Ismayil, another resident, pointed at his damaged two-room house. “See, only a frame of the house is left. Even the soil under the basement has been washed off. I don’t know what to do next,” he said. According to Molly Dominic, Mukkulam ward member, up to 33 families in the Mukkulam-Thazhathangadi region have lost their houses in the incident.
“These people are now housed in various relief camps at Kodunga, Yenthayara and Mukkulam. Road access has been partially restored. We are still assessing the exact details of the damages,” she said. People residing in the area are mostly daily-wage workers who struggle to make ends meet every day. With the flood tearing apart their houses, they beg for urgent intervention from the government to bring back their life to near normal.