MADIKERI: After gathering information at the rain-affected area of Makkanduru, I headed towards office. I was devastated to see an 88-year-old woman who walked 3 km uphill barefoot to reach a rehabilitation centre. Her house was destroyed in the landslide. She was shivering under the leaking roofs of the school cum centre.
I asked her to come to my place in Madikeri and stay. While she came along with me to my house, she was later shifted to her relative’s place in Madikeri. Later in the day I was heading back to office when I received a panic call saying that water is gushing into our office. We rushed to the spot and found 1 feet water surrounding our office. We hurried to get important documents out. Within seconds, a massive landslide took place opposite our office bringing down tonnes of water.
The entire space was flooded and we were wading through waist-deep water finding a higher altitude space. I pulled along our office dog and took her to safety on a high building. We waited there for about an hour looking at the water level increase by the minute. Meanwhile, no emergency numbers or district administration officers responded to my father. However, he contacted MLA KG Bopaaiah, who immediately sent the NDRF team to our rescue.