Kallakkadal Crisis Rising Sea Shrinking Shore Threaten Lives in Kerala
Since December, residents along Kerala’s Vembanad Lake India’s longest have been battling flood-like conditions in their homes. For Raphel Abraham a local from Edakochi, life has been nothing short of “hell,” as seawater continues to seep in forcing families to abandon their homes or endure prolonged waterlogging.
The culprit? A mysterious sea phenomenon known as ‘kallakkadal’, which translates to “the sea that arrives like a thief.” Though traditionally observed in the pre-monsoon months (April–May), experts now believe that the waves behind kallakkadal swell waves traveling thousands of kilometers across the ocean may no longer follow a seasonal pattern.
Approved by UNESCO in 2012 as a scientific term, kallakkadal is caused by large swell waves formed due to distant storms and cycl...