Kochi airport shut till Saturday as rain misery returns

Kochi: Kerala’s Kochi airport has suspended all its operations till noon as rains returned to wreck more havoc in the state on Wednesday. Five people were killed so far on Wednesday, and thousands of others are being evacuated. The state has opened 33 of its dams, a first in history.

“Kochi Airport operations temporarily suspended till 18th Saturday 2pm since the inflow of water is still on a raising trend. We are working hard to drain out the storm water,” Cochin International Airport Limited said in a notice on its website. Earlier on Wednesday, the airport had stopped arrival operations from 4am to 7am as a precautionary measure. All flights to and fro from the airport have been cancelled. Passengers can also dial Kochi airport’s emergency control room numbers: 0484-3053500, 2610094

Heavy rains has been battering the state since last week. The rains increased on Tuesday night. Kerala was just limping back to normalcy facing its worst floods since 1924 in last weekend, which killed 39 and evacuated more than one lakh people into relief camps.

The government has evacuated about 4000 more people since Tuesday night along the raging rivers Pampa and Periyar as precaution.

The Tamil Nadu government opened 119-year old Mullaperiyar dam on Tuesday night, for the first time in decades. The safety of the venerable dam is questionable, but water level had breached its maximum level, 142 feet.

The government evacuated all families in and around the dam overnight. With the increased water inflow, all shutters of Idukki dam also had to be opened on Wednesday, for the second time in 26 years. Idukki’s Munnar, which attracts several tourists, remained totally cut off, as per local reports, following heavy inundation. One person was killed as a lodge collapsed in Munnar.

Several districts, such as Ernakulam, Alappuzha, Pathanamthitta and the capital Thiruvananthapuram are heavily inundated following the rains, although the casualties have been limited.

Meteorological centre has predicted heavy rain accompanied with gusty winds, speed reaching 60 kmph, in all districts of Kerala until Wednesday night.