When waters rose swiftly

Sheeja of Manjankuzhy, Rameswaram, Neyyattinkara, can never forget the gush of waters that swamped their locality on Wednesday.

Her family of six, including parents, husband, and children, had to be rescued after water from the Neyyar and heavy rain in the night swept through their area.

A bund broke and water from the fields started entering their locality, but never did Sheeja dream that the situation would turn within a matter of minutes. “Water reached our neighbours’ house, and we thought there’s time to gather some of our stuff. But in minutes, it had reached our waist. We have seen flooding on TV, but never had we thought we would be experiencing something like this,” she said.

Sheeja said they immediately contacted municipal chairperson W.R. Heeba who sent people over to help them out.

“The water was up to our necks, and we had to be rescued in a boat. Even newborns had to held above the water,” she said. There was no time to pick up anything, but for their family’s Aadhaar and ration card, she said. “Even what we are wearing is borrowed. All electronic items in our house have been damaged.”

A large number of families had to go through the ordeal, she said. Many had been moved to relief camps, while some were staying with their relatives. “The water in our house has receded, but the surroundings are still waterlogged. It will be a week at least before we can go back. Everything will have to be disinfected. The toilets also need to be functional,” she said.

M. Rajmohan, secretary of the Gandhi Mitra Mandalam, who helped with the rescue operations said announcements had been made for people to evacuate, but few did, either because they were unable to or they were reluctant to. Once waters started rising swiftly, they got hold of a boat from boat clubs in the Poovar resort area and a country boat for rescuing people. The police, led by Sub Inspector Santhosh, and the Fire and Rescue Services under the supervision of MLAs, K. Ansalan and C.K. Hareendran, Ms. Heeba, and the Revenue Divisional Officer helped shift out people till the evening.

After 7 p.m., they managed to get hold of two more boats to speed up operations.

Nearly 450 people had been rescued in all, Mr. Rajmohan says.

Not located

Some people could not be rescued for they could not be located in the darkness for the area had no electricity for two days, and batteries of mobile phones had run out.

Others refused to leave their cattle behind and were still camping on the second floor of their houses, Ms. Heeba said. Food had been provided to them.

Mr. Rajmohan said the rescuers later helped 30-odd people at Prayinmoodu, some 3 km from Manjankuzhy, move to safety..

Ms. Heeba said nearly 1,200 people had been moved to relief camps in Neyyattinkara.