29 rescued after spending three nights atop a tree

By Our Staff Reporter

CUDDAPAH, AUG. 25. It was a harrowing experience for 22 agricultural labourers and seven children who spent three successive nights atop a tree with the gushing Kundu river flowing beneath in Pagidala village in Rajupalem mandal, until they were rescued on Friday.

The farm labourers, belonging to Vellala, Duvvur and Ekopalle villages, were working in agricultural fields belonging to the DRDA project director, Mr. B. Sarat Chandra Reddy, on Tuesday evening when a flashflood in the Kundu left them with no other option but to climb a tree in the fields, to save their lives. Nine women, 13 men and seven children went without food since Tuesday evening and satiated their hunger by drinking the flood water.

They got a new lease of life on Friday when they were rescued by the Rajupalem sub-inspector, Mr. Balaswamy Reddy, and his staff. Some villagers of Pagidala Parlapadu spotted the group of persons atop a tree amidst the gushing water and informed the sub- inspector over telephone. Mr. Balaswamy Reddy requisitioned two boats from Mylavaram, brought them out to safety and left them in Mallemala village on the border of Kurnool and Cuddapah districts, from where they proceeded to their respective villages.

KC Canal employee rescued

Similarly, an employee of KC Canal divisional office at Idamadaka, Mr. K. Imam Hussain, was trapped atop a concrete pillar near Gopayapalle in Duvvur mandal since Wednesday morning. He was brought to safety by KC Canal staff of Idamadaka who went to inspect the breaches to the main canal on Friday.

Mr. Hussain told reporters that he walked upto the head regulator after coming to duty on Wednesday. Around 2 p.m. flood water began gushing out and he was waist-deep in water by the time he reached Gopayapalle. Exhausted by then, he climbed a concrete signboard pillar when the water level began rising constantly.

The gushing water was flowing five feet over the KC Canal and he was forced to spend two nights on the pillar. Narrating the manner in which he spent two nights amidst flood water, fearing for his life, he said `scores of carcasses of wild boar passed by in the flood waters and I had no food or water till Friday morning when I was rescued by my colleagues'.

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Section  : Southern States
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