Seawalls and Groynes fail to protect Ernakulam’s coastal villages from monsoon fury

KOCHI: It is back to square one for the residents of Bazaar in Chellanam panchayat as the newly built tetrapod seawall and the six groynes have failed to keep the waves out. And in the adjacent Kannamaly, a lack of or the dilapidated condition of the old seawall has resulted in roads and houses getting inundated on Wednesday.

Sea comes crashing into homes in Kannamaly area
Every monsoon, the lives of those living in the coastal areas of the Ernakulam district become miserable as the sea turns rough.“It comes as a surprise that the 10-km stretch of the seawall constructed as per the specifications arrived at with the help of the study conducted by the National Centre for Coastal Research (NCCR) fell short of expectations,” Jinson Veluthamannunkal, secretary of Care Chellanam, told TNIE.

He said the NCCR study had identified Bazaar as the area most affected by sea attacks. “Following that, six groynes were installed at Bazaar, besides a temporary seawall made using boulders,” he said.

After the monsoon rain intensified, the turbulence in the sea has also increased because of various factors like the development of low-pressure areas, he pointed out.

“The situation now is such that waves are leaping over the top of the groynes and the seawall. Residents, who felt safe after the construction of the seawall and the installation of the groynes, were on Tuesday night surprised to see seawater entering their homes,” Jinson said.

He pointed out that this has happened because the seawall between the Velankanni and Bazaar areas is not high enough.

At the same time, Kannamaly lacked any protection whatsoever and got battered black and blue by the surging waves.