Roads are blocked, large groups of people have gathered, police and army men are deployed in huge numbers, most of the shops are shut, the atmosphere is grim, and the rains are still not stopping...
This is Thekkemala Junction, at Aranmula in Pathanamthitta. The district is still struggling to get back to normal as rains have not subsided. Connectivity to other parts is cut off and army teams are bringing rescued people on boats.
Two men are engaged in cleaning the road near some shops and the petrol pump at the junction is completely submerged in mud and water. Kozhenchery, Ranni, Aranmula and Pandalam have been devastated in the floods, with rivers Pampa and Achankovil in spate.
A team of army personnel is carrying out the rescue operations on boats. As we stand there, a family of four people arrives in an army boat. Police and local people watch over and offer a helping hand when the boat arrives. It’s all very solemn.
A family carrying bags seems to be still in shock. They were desperately waiting for the rescue team to arrive for the past 48 hours. "We are living in a flat, no one bothered to come to us thinking that those living in flats are safe", says the man, hesitating to reveal his name. The family kept on urging the rescue teams to speed up trips to the flat, at Chettimukku near Maramon.
"One elderly man is there, he is our neighbour, he is sick and not able to walk, please go and rescue him," both the husband and wife make an impassioned plea.
Children hold each other’s hands in tense anticipation. Just then, a vehicle arrives at the spot with the dead body of an old woman. Her relatives bring the body out of the vehicle. They carry it to the boat, it was her final journey. The woman died of age-related ailments and the body was taken for funeral to the Maramon Marthoma Church.
