KOCHI: The anxious moments I had to see off, with hardly any news coming in on the whereabouts of my 28 relatives including a critically-ill 83-year-old grandmother from a marooned Parakkadavu, near here, had brought in all negative thoughts to my mind. Yet, when everybody asked me to keep my cool, I waited, realising that it was the time to act wisely.
But after three days passed and I ran out of patience, I decided to set out along with my cousins Mahesh and Bejoy in a heavy-duty Taurus lorry on Sunday morning to the place, situated 35 km from Kochi, on the Athani-Mala route.
I’ve been knowing this place well. But the first attempt, where I had the support of my colleague P Ramdas, ended at Athani on Saturday evening because all roads from Poykattussery to Moozhikulam were flooded neck-deep. And on our way in the Taurus, I could gauge the scale of devastation along the national highway from Aluva to Chalakkudy.
‘After the rescue effort,we could hear locals cheering for the Army’
All shops and houses on either side of the roads were partially/fully destroyed while vehicles were seen piled up. It made me realise the enormity of the task on our hand.Till Pulliyannam, roads were clean but as we started to climb down a small hill, we could see the gushing water on the roads. Thankfully, two local lads — Flevin Thomas and Nelson Paul (I’ll never forget them) — who have been actively involved in rescue operations, joined us.
Driver Maitheen Chellakulam and his aide too tried to make us comfortable saying they have been into rescue act on the vehicle for days at Puthenvellikara.As the Taurus moved forward guided by the lads — waves of water started thrashing its outside with loud noise. We still went up, but moving a 100 metre forward, we noticed the water level was gradually rising.
The driver struggled as water now gushed into the cabin. I started getting really tense while my cousin, seated next to me, started praying. Even more disgusting was the sight of another lorry stuck on the road, 70 per cent submerged.However, the driver kept his composure and put the reverse gear as the engine started whirling with a loud noise and warning buzzer switching on.
For the next 10 minutes, everything was frenzy with several people guiding the driver to move the vehicle further backward and thus to safety. Somehow we managed to get out of water, heaving a big relief.Now, it was almost certain that we should drop our second rescue attempt also.
My cousins and I were all silent on our way back to Kochi, but we knew each one of us was thinking only about the way forward. That was when we got a call saying that an Army team was in Chalakudy, offering help. We met Captain Kuldip Sing Rawat and he joined us.
This time we opted for a different route, via Muttachiraa, as suggested by Flevin. The team gauged the flow of water and its depth. The entire group waded through chest-high current for three kilometers to reach the marooned house.And there they were — my family members, on the first floor, having survived on minimum food and water.They never expected us to make such an adventure and reach them so soon.
A large crowd was there at Muttachiraa to “see off” the 14 rescued, which included the ailing grandmother, children and women. As the ambulance left carrying the grandmother, we could hear the locals cheering for the Armymen with “Jai Hind” chants.The captain smiled at us. He was contented with the job-well-done by his team, but seemed to have already charted the plan for his next rescue operation.
Parakkadavu still flooded
While water has receded at Athani, Parakkadavu and several other places in its proximity continue to lie under water. It might take weeks before everyone from the area is evacuated, and what the victims there need are food and water.