With floodwaters receding, people have slowly started returning to their homes in Kuttanad and other parts of the district.
Officials said that water level had dropped below danger level in Kuttanad and several people had returned home from relief camps.
Floodwaters also receded from the Alappuzha-Changanassery (AC) road. Officials with the Kerala State Road Transport Corporation said that Alappuzha- Changanasserry bus service through AC road would commence from Monday.
Kuttanad witnessed a series of bund breaches following heavy downpour and an increase in the flow of water from the eastern side.
Outer bunds of 37 paddy polders were breached and another 50 bunds overflowed. Paddy cultivation in large tracts was destroyed. Officials said that steps had been taken to reconstruct the breached outer bunds of paddy polders in Kuttanad. Temporary repair of the bunds and dewatering of paddy fields would be completed soon.
Apart from Kuttanad, the situation has improved considerably in Chengannur, Karthikappally and Mavelikara taluks.
A total of 1,620 people from 505 families are staying in 31 relief camps opened in different parts of the district as on Sunday evening. Besides, the district administration is operating 551 gruel centres in the district including 543 in Kuttanad for 1.34 lakh people of 31,542 families.
The Irrigation Department has claimed that the widening and deepening of the Thottappally pozhi ensured the smooth flow of floodwaters from Kuttanad into the sea.
“As per a report of the Central Water Commission, discharge through Thottappally spillway during the 2018 great deluge was estimated at 630 cubic metre per second. Compared to 2018, the water level in Pamba river this time was eight feet lower. But the discharge through Thottappally was same as in 2018,” said an official.
Earlier the Irrigation Department deepened and widened the pozhi by removing 2.42 lakh cubic metres of sand. The width of the pozhi mouth was increased to 360 metres.
