Idukki: Chief Minister Oommen Chandy is visiting Idukki to assess the magnitude of the disaster after the rains and landslips and decide on the relief package to compensate the devastation suffered by the high range district. Even as Cochin International Airport was yet to resume operations. The government had already allotted Rs 84 crore for urgent relief works in Idukki and neighboring districts.
Traffic has been partly restored in the National Highway linking Idukki with rest of the state, which remained blocked till this morning by flash flood and rubble spawned by a series of landslips.
The Cochin International Airport at nearby Nedumbassery was also shut yesterday as taxi bays and parking bays continue to be water-logged.
Airport Director A K C Nair said as of now there is no waterlogging and they were confident of operating flights from this evening and Flight operations had been hit after the runway was closed yesterday as water inundated the airport runway, taxi bay and parking bay.
Opening of the shutters of Idamalayar dam had led to rise in water level of Periyar River following which there was a reverse flow from the river through the drainages of the airport, which flows into the Periyar. Flights arriving at Kochi had been diverted to Thiruvananthapuram and Kozhikode and many flights had also been cancelled, airport sources said.
Nature’s fury also inflicted a huge loss by way of crop loss in the area, inhabited mostly by small and marginal farmers. Some 20,000 people hit by incessant rains and floods have been shifted to relief camps in Idukki as well as Ernakulam, Pathanamthitta and Thrissur districts. This is the first time that the runway of the airport was closed.
Bureau Report
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