The Storm Diary 2020

Destruction Has Begun

Dear Readers,

As I write this, it is the 7th of August 2020. On 4th of this month, I believe that the annual downpour begun. I say annual, because I know for a fact that this destruction is here to stay and that it is an effect of climate change. It may only have wrecked havoc for two years, but it will wreck havoc for more. I am an agnostic, and I know for a fact that I have no mystical powers of prophecy, but, I have always, and hopefully always will be, right when it comes to certain predictions like weather. If, and I mean if, I believe it will rain even on a relatively cloudless day, it does rain. Now, we shall more on to the incidents.

I believe it has been a year since the Kavalappara landslide incident, that buried alive hopes, dreams and ambitions along with several families. As if to remind us of the power of nature, it rained so heavily that in one part of Kerala, a car  with a couple of passengers in it, was washed away. The search for the bodies was suspended by nightfall, as things can get much more difficult, unpredictable and dangerous at night. Earlier this day, one of the bodies was found.  Now while the main subject of this diary is Kerala and the floods in Kerala, I believe that it would be fitting to include certain other floods in India. Assam has been flooded yet again, and hardly have the waters begun to recede and life get back to how it was. Meanwhile, much more recently, Mumbai has received staggering amounts of rainfall in the past 48 hours, such that several parts of southern Mumbai have begun flooding. An unbelievable rise in sea level has flooded a station and several houses in Mumbai that are close to the sea. 

Back to Kerala, I am fortunate that my house and my family were never affected much by the previous floods. This year however, has me a bit worried, not for myself or my family, but because the winds this year blow with such force that several houses have lost their rooftops. In fact, my neighbor's house was lucky to have lost only one rusted, dangerous tin sheet. The winds are more than capable of destroying what the floods leave untouched. 

I think it would be wrong not to mention that the first significant landslide of the season had happened while most of the people of Kerala were sleeping yesterday night. The collector of the district where it happened himself could not reach the area for hours. Communication there is down, at least for now, with regard to the common man at least. Rescue operations found it rather difficult to reach the affected area. In all honesty, several localities in various districts have been flooded. My home district of  Thrissur is one of the districts that needs to worry a bit more as of now. Overall, Thrissur was not as affected as compared to most other districts of Kerala in the past two floods, and it will continue to be so if the the floods are of the same uniformity and nature as in the past. The reason for this is how the land of Thrissur is. 

Now that I have mentioned all the major incidents of recent occurrence, I shall update as and when something bad happens. Please do not think that I enjoy writing such diaries. While I do feel very calm and at home when the storm is raging, I do not enjoy them as I cannot free my mind and do so when the same storm kills innocent people. I do not wish to write again, but I know for a fact that I WILL have to write again. As a matter of fact, it may not been long before my next update. In case I did not mention this before, the purpose of these diary entries is to have a written account of someone who sees these floods, and is surrounded by them, but is not directly affected by them.