The Hindu : Kerala News : Where rain brings a flood of woes

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Thursday, Nov 01, 2007
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Kerala

Kerala

Where rain brings a flood of woes

K.A. Martin

It disrupts work, spells dangers of flood for people on the banks of the Periyar

The water level touched a record level (in recent times) of 136.4 ft on Wednesday
Warnings issued and promises of help made by the district administration

VANDIPERIYAR: Ten-year-old Meena has a small problem with rains. She lives on the banks of the Periyar at Vallakkadavu in a house that will be one of the first to be affected by the changing water level in the Mullaperiyar dam.

When it rains, the water level rises flooding her roadside little hut, leaving her without any friends to play with.

The boys make their way to the higher grounds to play while Meena has to wait for the waters to recede. She finds it extremely boring. No school and no friends.

For 68-year-old Maria, the problem is different. When it rains, it brings a flood of snakes, even poisonous ones, to her neighbourhood.

“I am afraid even to look around in the rains; my granddaughter found a big one in the toilet the other day,” she says about the recent bout of rains.

Frightening situation

The situation is even more frightening in the night with little light in the house, says Maria.

For all of her life Maria has lived at Vallakkadavu, a village in the Vandiperiyar panchayat that is closest to the Mullaperiyar dam.

Each year, rain brings her tidings of danger. She is sportive enough and waits patiently for the official warnings and promises of help.

She is always ready to move out in case the rain and the waters threaten to rob her of her belongings or her loved ones.

For M. Thankaraj and M. Sudhan, daily wage labourers, rain creates an entirely different problem. They are thrown out of work.

With the tea estate at Vallakkadavu they depended on having been closed for over a decade, their income has dried up. The little they earn now comes from carrying firewood, fodder or whatever they can find.

Rain is a big hindrance, it disrupts work, spell dangers of flood, though not in life-threatening proportions always.

Meanwhile, at Vallakadavu, the village post office, tea shops and provision stores operate almost oblivious of the reports of rising water level in the dam.

The water level touched a record (in recent times) of 136.4 ft on Wednesday morning.

Warnings issued

Warnings have been issued and promises of help made by the panchayat authorities and the district administration.

When Collector Ashok Kumar Singh visited Vallakkadavu on Tuesday, one of the first complaints he received was that the streetlights along the town were not working.

The administration had promised, even last year, that the streetlights would be working when Vallakkadavu faced an emergency.

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