Broken branches saved elderly couple

Chennai

Shivers went down the spines of a landless Dalit couple, KBalakrishnan and Kalyani, during the recent deluge, when water gushed into theirthatched hut at Periyakattupalayam, rising menacingly by the minute. 

“The speedand volume of water flow was threatening and it soon began filling the hut.When we tried to get out, we saw the entire neighbourhood was rapidly gettingflooded,” said Balakrishnan, recounting the horror.

 He said the onlyoption for them was to climb the loft. “The loft became very shaky. Hence, mywife and I climbed a litter higher and clung on to the central supportingbamboo of the hut and placed our legs over another bamboo.

Soon, the front legs (bamboos) of the hut caved and we beganseriously doubting our chances of survival. Luckily, when the hut began shakingvigorously, some bamboo poles got stuck in the fallen branches of our brokencashew tree,” he said, lending a prop to the hut and preventing it from fallingand being swept away by the violent current.

 As the water levelkept increasing, the terrified couple removed patches of the thatched roof and,craning their necks out, waited for help. “In that position we kept crying forhelp for seven hours,” he recalled.

 The couple wasrescued after Balakrishnan’s nephew and another relative spotted them. “Thebroken branches of our cashew tree made all the difference between life anddeath. Without them, we would have been dead,” he said.

D Samydurai, another resident of the village, said the nextday people came to know that ten people had been swept away by the violentcurrents. Bodies were found stuck in branches of trees and floating on turgidwaters.

Today, the Dalit colony of Periakattupalayam has beenreduced to a ghost town with most residents moving to a relief camp nearby.While most huts have been washed away, tiled and partly concrete tenements arebadly damaged.

Still saddled with completing housing schemes initiated forthose hit by calamities like cyclone Thane in Cuddalore District, thegovernment is exploring the possibility of roping in NGOs to supplement itsefforts to construct safe houses for the flood victims.