PATHANAMTHITTA: Fire and Rescue Services personnel evacuated 3,627 people from flood-hit areas of Pathanamthitta after flash floods engulfed large parts of the district before dawn on Saturday, with teams working continuously for more than 70 hours to rescue stranded residents, transport critically ill patients and deliver essential supplies.
Fire and Rescue officials were among the first responders to enter the swirling floodwaters and have barely paused since.
For more than 70 continuous hours, teams have carried elderly residents through waist-deep water, evacuated pregnant women and children, transported dialysis and kidney transplant patients, rescued stranded families from rooftops and isolated homes, and even saved livestock trapped by the flood.
The Fire and Rescue Services evacuated 3,627 people from flood-hit areas under the Ranni, Pathanamthitta, Konni and Tiruvalla fire stations.
Reinforcements comprising 160 firefighters from Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam, Ernakulam, Alappuzha and Palakkad, along with 75 Civil Defence volunteers, joined the district's rescue operations.
Twelve rubber boats were deployed as rescue teams battled strong currents and inundated roads.
The operations were coordinated under district fire officer Visi Viswanath, with the district divided into four operational sectors. Control room operations were led by Pathanamthitta station officer V Vinod Kumar, while station officers Sandeep (Konni), Zakaria Ahmed Kutty (Ranni), Rajendran Nair (Tiruvalla) and Sasidharan (Seethathode) coordinated field operations in their respective sectors.
From the flooded streets of Ranni town to submerged villages in the Kozhencherry, Mallappally and Tiruvalla taluks, rescue personnel worked round the clock, often without food or sleep.
Their responsibilities extended far beyond evacuations.
Firefighters ferried food, drinking water and medicines to people marooned in their homes and to inmates of relief camps in coordination with the Disaster Management Authority. They also rescued nearly 60 domestic animals stranded in the floodwaters.
Among those rescued were elderly residents who could not walk, pregnant women requiring urgent assistance, dialysis patients, kidney transplant recipients and others needing immediate medical care. Many had to be physically carried through flooded roads or transported by rescue boat to safety.
A senior fire official said the operation ranks among the most demanding flood rescue missions undertaken by the department in Pathanamthitta in recent years. He also appealed to the public to cooperate with rescue agencies.
"Despite repeated warnings, many people refused to move from low-lying areas during the day and called for rescue only after nightfall, putting additional pressure on rescue teams and people's representatives," the official said.
He noted that if residents had shifted to safer places when advised, firefighters could have focused on the most vulnerable cases and managed the operations more efficiently.
The official also urged people not to seek non-emergency assistance while rescue operations remain under way.
"We are receiving requests to clean mud from houses and shops even as more than 100 personnel have been working continuously for over 70 hours without proper rest. Floodwaters have not completely receded in many places. At this stage, our priority should be saving lives," he said.
As floodwaters slowly begin to recede across parts of the district, firefighters continue to assist those stranded, carrying infants through chest-deep water, lifting bedridden patients onto rescue boats, comforting frightened children and ensuring every stranded resident is brought to safety.
