Even floods love Malayalam actor Prasanth Alexander's dream home, inundate it third time

For actor Prasanth Alexander, the house he built in Malappally in 2018 was meant to be the fulfilment of a long-cherished dream. He never imagined that within months of moving in, relentless rains would turn the dream into a recurring nightmare. Eight years later, history has repeated itself, for the third time.

While the family's recent move to an apartment in Thiruvalla has spared them the immediate trauma of wading through floodwaters, it has done little to ease the emotional burden. Their Malappally home has once again been inundated, leaving Prasanth, his wife and their two children anxiously waiting for the waters to recede before they can assess the damage. Recently, the actor and his wife Sheeba Prasanth, who works as an English professor at Mar Thoma College in Thiruvalla, had shared a reel highlighting the situation of their home in Malappally.

"It is true that this time we have not been physically affected because we are no longer staying there. But mentally, it is exhausting. This is the third time floodwaters have entered our house," the actor told Onmanorama, recalling losses of more than ₹2 lakh after the 2018 floods. The family faced another ordeal in 2021 after the flash floods in Mundakkayam and the accumulation of silt near the bridge worsened waterlogging in their area.

"The repeated flooding took a heavy toll on my wife and children. Since they spent most of their time at home without me, the anxiety kept growing. Eventually, my wife suggested that we shift to Thiruvalla, which is comparatively safer. We bought an apartment there and now live on the top floor," he said.

Even so, the worry has never really left them. "The interiors were badly damaged during the previous floods. This time too, we are expecting extensive restoration work. I can only visit the house once the water recedes. But even after we clean and repair everything, there is always the fear that September or October rains could bring the same ordeal all over again."

Over the years, Prasanth says, people living in flood-prone regions have been forced to adapt, not because they have found solutions, but because they have run out of options. "We have slowly begun to accept this as our reality. We are stronger. There was a time when waterlogging was seen almost as an adventure. We never realised it was nature warning us. Today, it is no longer fun. It has become a lived reality."

When he built his home in 2018 at his ancestral place, family members and residents would speak of a major flood that had struck the area nearly 25 years earlier. Back then, it was dismissed as a once-in-a-generation event. "Then came the 2018 floods. Even after that, we believed it was a rare occurrence that wouldn't happen again. But it keeps happening. That is what is truly heartbreaking," he added.

What has disturbed him most this year is the scale of the flooding. "You would be surprised by the places that have gone under water this time. Some of them don't even appear vulnerable. But that is the reality now. No place feels completely safe anymore." Even relief camps, he said, are struggling to cope.

"This time, many people are staying in camps because they have been completely cut off by floodwaters. Earlier, people could move in with relatives living elsewhere. Now, even the roads connecting different regions are submerged, forcing more families to seek shelter in relief camps."
Prasanth was last seen in ‘Mollywood Times’ and ‘Lurk’. He has signed up for several projects and is hoping to join the shoot of Abrid Shine’s film next month.