Sayeed was mixing tea at his restaurant when he heard his neighbouring shop owners Ibrahim and Cheriyapu yelling to him, ‘run, run.’ His heels were on fire the next moment. Within a few minutes, their concrete shops had vanished along with four concrete houses. The entire Pathaar Bazaar was wiped out by the furious floodwaters unleashed by a landslide on August 8 afternoon at Pothukal village near Nilambur.
A new river is flowing through Pathaar Bazaar now, with thousands of huge granite boulders strewn all over its course.
Giant tree trunks uprooted and cast down from the mountain several miles away are lying all over the place, a grim reminder of nature’s ungovernable power. The topography of a lush, serene village has changed overnight. For the past week, Pathaar has been one of the most sought-after destinations of disaster tourism in the State. People have been pouring in to Pathaar from all over the State either to help the people in distress or to see the destruction.
A ghost village
By 8 p.m., the place turns into a ghost village. The residents who ran to safety are yet to return. Many cannot return as there remains nothing as theirs. The newly formed river has taken away everything.
Displacing concrete slabs
A battered mosque with muddied prayer rugs and a stone cross about 100 metres away remain testimony to the floodwaters that altered the face of Pathaar in less than two hours. “It all started at 5.30 p.m. And in two hours, this bazaar disappeared,” said Abraham Vengathanam.
The floods had carried large concrete slabs of houses to hundreds of metres away. A 500cc Royal Enfield Bullet owned by Sharif Mavungal was found eight kilometres away, all mangled. Sharif’s six-member family and his new villa barely survived, but he lost his farmland and other properties.
His wife Jamshila Banu and four children are struggling to tide over their traumatic experience. “We saw death face to face as our house shivered every minute when the giant rocks and woods tumbled down the mountain and rammed our house. We said our last prayers to Allah, preparing for an instant death,” said Sharif, describing the moments. “Alhamdu Lillah (Thank God). I’m happy God spared our lives.”
Many political leaders, including CPI(M) State general secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan and Muslim Youth League State president Syed Munawwarali Shihab Thangal visited Pathaar. “The destruction is unbelievable,” Mr. Balakrishnan told The Hindu , pointing to a two-storey luxury house rendered useless by the floods. Yes. He is right. Right now, seeing is believing at Pathaar.
