Sobha, a woman in her 50s, was sitting in an autorickshaw when we arrived at the Mudumpil residents colony in Thiruvananthapuram.
Sobha’s house is flooded following the heavy rains that have caused havoc in Kerala. Having left home in the morning, she has been sitting in the auto ever since waiting for the water to recede. The auto, owned by her husband, is parked near the main road. Hers is a seven member family, comprising her husband, children and grandchildren.
The others in her family, including her grandchildren aged six and four, have taken shelter in a library nearby.
“My other family members are waiting in the library,” Sobha says, pointing towards the other side of the road.
What if the water does not recede by night?
“We don’t know where to go. We hope that the water will recede by night,” she says hopefully.
She and her family expect that the water will recede and hence are not moving to anywhere else.
Ten houses in the Mudumpil colony have been flooded. The colony is located in one of the prime spots in the city and the entrance is directly from the main road. Sobha says that inundation had occurred there earlier also, but the incessant rains from last night and the floods it caused was unprecedented and scary.
“We haven’t witnessed anything like this,” she says.
Authorities are yet to visit the colony.
“MLA K Muraleedharan had come in the morning, but he didn’t come to the most inundated parts. There is flooding during every monsoon, but the authorities turn a blind eye towards our problems,” says Sukumaran, another resident of the colony.
As in other residential areas that have been flooded, leaking or overflowing of septic tanks also poses a challenge. The flood waters get mixed up with septic tank waste.
“Sometimes when it floods, the water would recede soon… we would wash our houses and start our routine again, but this time it is scary,” says another resident.
The colony, which comes under the Puthupally Residents Association, is located near the Government Medical College and is hardly 100 meters from the Cosmopolitan Hospital. It falls under the Medical College ward of the City Corporation. TNM had reported earlierthat the ground floor of the Cosmopolitan Hospital is also flooded.