Cochin airport now experienced enough to handle future flood situations'

Cochin airport now experienced enough to handle future flood situations'

Cochin International Airport Limited(CIAL) in fact has carved a niche for itself by becoming the world's first fully solar energy powered airport.CIAL gained this accomplishment during May 2018 and the achievement was officially recognized and declared by United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) chief Erik Solheim.But the international airport which also earned the distinction of handling 10 million passengers in a year was at the receiving end within a few months.It was marooned during the August holocaust and had to be shut for 11 days!

The flood situation in the state due to discharge of large quantum of waters from the Idukki dam is no strange phenomenon for the people of the state.A similar occasion arose during 1992 when the crest gates of the Idukki dam were opened for the first time.But luckily then there was no airport here and rightly the staff had literally no experience of handling such adverse conditions.But the airport had to be closed during November in 1999 for two days within a few months of inauguration.The airport was inundated due to opening up of two crest gates of the Idukki dam.Then the downpour was around 4,000 millimeters,a proportion supposed to be equivalent to a month's rains.CIAL was first initially closed down for commercial operations on last 15 August between 4-7 am.But as the water was flooding in and eventually started to transform of going out of control,the scheduled departures later were also stalled.

There was an emergency meeting of the airport officials to asses the situation on ground as it looked like going out of control.But by then Periyar river had practically engulfed the nearby Chengannur town and although there were efforts to pump out the water on the runway with the help of 3-4 pump sets it didn't make any sense.By then the water level on the airstrip had increased to seven meter by the night of 15th and it was impossible to even think of managing air operations.

Then initially the airport had to be closed from 16-18 August as the control room and emergency control room went below water.However thanks to the international terminal of the airport being above the ground level,the terminal space itself got transformed into relief camps.

Around 2,000 people were spread over three terminals and all efforts were made to rescue the stranded passengers.But the major challenge happened to be unavailability of of technical people till 18 August as around five kilometers of area surrounding the airport was flooded with no means of communication at all.

The situation worsened to such extent that the closure of the airport was forced to be extended till 26 August.Although restoration activities began only on 20th but the repercussions as a result thereupon also started making their presence felt in spite of the water level gradually starting to recede.Due to the terrific floods most of the 11 kilometers of the runway was under water for days together and as a result all the 820 lights had to be replaced.About six hundred people had to be deployed for cleaning up of the 30 lakh square feet built up area as it had been covered with thrash.

Three conveyor belts were destroyed for being under water for days together and technicians from different countries had to be summoned as they were purchased from different international companies.The rescue operations also received a setback as only 300 people were available out of the total staff of 1,670.

It's not just the airport operations that got stalled as CIAL suffered huge losses and even the plight of the adjoining commercial establishments was equally hopeless.Three 5 star hotels remained closed and were not able to accommodate their own crew,forget sheltering the pilots and related staff.

The piquant situation was such that no hotels or restaurants were available to cater to the stranded passengers and staff on duty.But as they keep saying,'Fortitude in Adversity' men and material from all over the country gushed in.About one lakh man hours of work was undertaken during these eight days.It was just like courage in pain with help rushing in from all possible quarters,claimed PS Jayan,Manager-PR and Corporate Communications,CIAL.He also informed:We have submitted a insurance claim of Rs 338 crores for the losses suffered,forgetting the aspect of operational losses.

At the same time PS Jayan expressed confidence of handling similar situations arising out of natural calamities in future:In the event of natural calamity a flood like situation is inevitable but now we have gained the experience of handling it.

Erik Solheim,chief of the United Nations Environment Programme has heaped a shower of praises on the accomplishments of CIAL in generating 30 megawatt capacity solar power project.He's so thrilled that he had also announced:I really want to go around the world and speak about the success story of CIAL.If an airport in Kerala can do this,why can't others across the world come up with such projects.

But interestingly what's still intriguing is the perplexed problem of what went wrong while designing the Cochin airport?No doubt the airport buildings are quite unusual when it comes to incorporating the typical local style and tradition of the state.However what's disturbing is the ground level runways when everyone knows very well the way the region gets marooned during heavy monsoons when water is released from the nearby dams.

-Manohar Yadavatti