Kochi airport to reopen today for the first time since Kerala Floods
New Delhi : In a relief for travellers to and fro Kerala, the Kochi airport will resume its operations on Wednesday around 2 pm. The airport was closed after a massive flood had engulfed a major section of the state.
Airport officials were seen rushing sofas and chairs inside the departure section of the airport, as the authorities were running on a very tight schedule.
On August 15, after several alerts, the furniture was shifted to the upper floor of the airport and the same day extra water from the Periyar river engulfed the compound area, resulting in closing the facility.
"Water reached four meters high at some places. We had been pumping water out since August 10 but since the Cheruthoni and Idamalayar dams were opened together on August 15, it was too much to take," Jayan P S, public relations officer, Cochin International Airport Limited (CIAL), told The Indian Express.
The floods have amounted a loss of over Rs 300 crores for the Kochin airport. It was only after August 20, when the water started to drain off, authorities started the restoration work.
"We engaged around 300 to 400 workers for the clean-up operations. Equipment was brought in from Bengaluru and the taxiway was recarpeted using milling machines from Tamil Nadu. Each light on the runway was extracted and tested," said Jayan.
