As many as eight people died and thousands, including 6,000 within Chennai city limits, were displaced by the rain dumped by Cyclone Michaung leading to severe flooding. Widespread power outages were reported and telecommunications in Chennai was severely disrupted, halting essential communication networks including phone services, cell phone networks, and the Internet. Residents have said they were stuck inside their homes for nearly five days as stagnant water, up to six feet in some of the areas, hindered movement.
As government agencies, including the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), State Disaster Response Force (SDRD), the Tamil Nadu Fire and Rescue Personnel, and the state police department, launched rescue operations, another group helped residents in their own way.
‘Take the boat there’
Along with government rescue personnel, the fishermen’s community also helped residents stuck inside their homes in flooded areas of Chennai. Different groups of fishermen from Meiyur, Panaiyur, and Kasimedu areas were commissioned by the state fisheries department and through the respective district administrations to carry out the rescue work.
At Perumbakkam, one of the worst affected areas in Chennai, a bunch of fishermen were actively involved in rescue operations. “Edu Edu, anga nikkaranga (Take the boat, people are stuck there)”, was the constant call that echoed in the area. One such group came from Sadhurangapattinam in Tamil Nadu’s Chengalpet district. B Manoj Kumar, 32, one of the rescuers who was among the 16 people who came from the area, talked about the way they pitched in. “We carried out the rescue work at Mudichur first on Monday. There were challenges there. The deeper we went, we saw people stuck in their apartments and houses without milk or food for two to three days,” said Kumar.
“Out of our pocket, we bought some items like medicine for kids. We got back the money from them but we are not sure whether we got it for everything we spent. We didn’t calculate. In some places, the water was upto six feet. After carrying out the work for two days, we were called here to carry out the work at Perumbakkam,” he said. It was a tense situation at Perumbakkam on Wednesday with people rescued in big trucks and boats. Some even waded through the water with whatever they could carry in their hands to reach the main road.
Challenges
With three motor boats and two non-motor boats, the group from Sathurangapattinam carried out their rescue work intensely. Selvamani K, a senior member of the team, said they began at 9 am every day and stopped at 5 pm. “We rescued around 300 people at Perumbakkam alone,” he noted. Kumar from Sadhurangapattinam said in Perumbakkam, they had to navigate through five feet of water and remove the metro train barricades that were stopping them from carrying out the rescue operation. “There was a difference between Mudichur and Perumbakkam. In the latter area, there are huge apartments and gated communities. Identifying the people, providing them relief materials, rescuing them from those places was a different challenge,” he added.
‘Lives on line’
When asked about the allegations that a few boatmen demanded money from people for carrying out the rescue works, Kumar said they felt bad as they had put blood and sweat into the rescue operations. “We put our lives on the line. One of our group members would have lost his life as the boat turned during a rescue at Mudichur as he was hit on his abdomen. Two of the men sustained injury after a nail pierced through their leg when they got down from the boat and pushed them due to overload as many people climbed onto it in fear,” he said.
“We overcame those challenges as we had a mission to rescue as many people as possible. I can touch my heart and say neither I nor any of our group members took even a single rupee from people to save their lives,” he stressed. Despite the allegations of fishermen charging them for the rescue operations, at Perumbakkam people could be seen thanking the boatmen with folded hands for saving their lives.