A 11-storey apartment complex at Desom, Aluva, where more than 200 people—including pregnant women, infants, and wheelchair-ridden seniors—desperately sought refuge, typifies the precarious situation in which hundreds of people left stranded by the flood along the banks of the Periyar and its neighbourhood.
“Our apartment is on a slightly higher ground, and when waters began rising early in the morning, people from around began taking refuge here starting from around 6 a.m.,” said Hari K.C., a resident of Anvita Residency. The building is located barely 300 metres away from the Periyar.
According to Hari, the residents opened up large halls and common spaces to accommodate more people, sharing food and water.
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“However, there is no power now, and the sewage system is blocked. Drinking water supply has almost exhausted,” he said over the phone on Thursday evening, adding: “We would need more resources to last more than a day. We just hope we will be rescued soon.” Though the rescue team did reach out to several emergency numbers and were told that officials would be contacting them, nothing came of it. Hari has taken to social media and Facebook to post updates on how they are doing and “fighting it out”.
“All our access roads have been cut off. The only means of rescue will be with the help of helicopters or motorised boats, as the water is too deep in many places and the current too strong to wade through,” said Hari. “We did see a helicopter come to airlift around 12 people nearby, and we hope they will come to us soon,” he added.
Meanwhile, distress calls pleading for emergency help flooded social media platforms as Thursday dawned, with normalcy looking a distant dream. All low-lying areas and places along the banks of the Periyar are getting submerged by the minute.
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It was a nightmarish time for the 400-odd inmates of Sree Sankaracharya University of Sanskrit hostel at Kalady, as a furious Periyar in spate invaded the premises in the morning.
As water level began to rise, students left the hostel for the safety of the third floor of another building on the campus near the university entrance.
By that time, they were joined by over 100 local residents who were also looking for a place away from the prying waters.
“We have a pregnant lady, a visually-challenged, and even a 30-day-old baby among us, with no help coming our way since morning despite our numerous SOS. Before, we settled in here, we had to literally break into some nearby shops to stock food, and that is also now running low. We can hear the sound of helicopter sorties being made in the area, but we are still stuck here,” said Jayasree Sreenivasan, a third year MA Malayalam student.
They can now only be evacuated using boats or airlifted, as the water level has risen so alarmingly even for a lorry or a bus to reach the spot.
“While rescue agencies put in their best efforts, the absence of boats and supporting equipment hampered the progress of evacuation operations. For instance, hundreds were stranded at Companypaddy near Aluva, but there was only boat of the Navy available for rescue operations before another one joined by the evening,” said Anish Panthalani of Progressive Techies, a voluntary organisation of IT employees, who was an active volunteer in the rescue operations throughout the day.