Having worked for nearly two days in rescuing people from marooned areas in Kannur, on the outskirts of the city, and in B.C. Road town, 30-year-old Lakshman, a fisherman from Shillekhayata tribe, returned on Sunday morning to set right his and eight other thatched huts in Kadekar that remained marooned since Saturday evening.
Wading through slushy waters, Lakshman and fellow residents started coming one after the other to their places, located on the banks of the Netravathi River near Jeppinamogaru in the city.
Water is yet to completely drain out of these thatched huts, whose roof have flown away.
The fishing nets, each priced at around ₹ 10,000, are totally wet and are of no use now. “We rescued many since Saturday and now we have are faced with the arduous task of re-building our houses and earning a livelihood,” lamented Lakshman.
It was around Friday evening when water level started to rise. “We initially thought it to be high tide. As it started rising at a faster rate, we started moving out,” said Lakshman’s neighbour Shanta Kumar.
They made use of their coracles to move out their family members, along with articles they could carry, to a dormitory at the Mallikarjuna temple nearby.
They kept on moving things till the early hours of Saturday, he said.
Tragedy stuck these residents on Thursday in the form of the death of 18-month-old Anjan, the younger of the two children of fisherman Ravi. “He seems to have followed his relative and slipped into the swollen river. It is difficult to accept this,” said a distraught Ravi.
It is the loss of the young child, Lakshman said, that prompted him and three fellow tribesman to join the district administration in rescuing people trapped in marooned places. “When the local police called us for help, we cut short the work of moving our articles and rushed to Kannur and B.C. Road,” Lakshman said. Four fishermen from the same community residing in Kannur also joined in the rescue operation, Lakshman added.
Now, some fishermen’s family members are staying in the dormitory in the temple, while others are staying in a relief camp in Jeppinamogaru.
