‘It began in the dead of night….there was no warning,’ Dena village battles aftermath of flood fury

Battling the losses of their homes and livelihoods, Dena village with a considerable population of cattle herders, however, stands out as a story of grit and resilience with the residents refusing to let the floods wash away their ability to fight.

Recounting the intervening night of Monday-Tuesday, 33-year-old Bharwad said: “There was no warning… no information from the administration. It began in the dead of night while we were asleep. Around 3 am, we realised that water was filling up in our homes. By the time we could save our valuables, we were already in knee-deep water. We dumped everything, grabbed our children and ran out. But the water didn’t stop gushing. We spent two nights on the tops of our pickup trucks.”

Once a lively village, Dena now paints a sorry picture with dead cattle, homes strewn with trash, ruined grains and rotting furniture — all revealing the aftermath of staying under 8-12 feet of water for three days.

The recently-celebrated Janmashtami festival has now been reduced to the stark reminder of when it all started.

“Aatham no upvaas kaale todyo chhe,” (Yesterday only we broke the Janmashtami fast) said 27-year-old Rahul Bharwad, a resident of Kotali village about a km away from Dena. Since the festival is revered among the cattle herding community, many had fasted on Monday to celebrate the occasion, only to wake up the next day to find their livestock and homes gone under water.

Rahul lives in the Bharwadvaas settlement on the outskirts of Kotali village at the confluence of Surya and Vishwamitri river which passes through Vadodara city and swelled up due to incessant rains causing the flood.

A visibly distraught Rahul said, “We had to make a choice between our children and our cattle that we treat as our children. Nobody should have to make such a difficult choice.”

With no food for two days, the village finally got some relief along with the rations from local NGOs.

Pointing to their house, which is still under water, brothers Yasinkhan Karimkhan Pathan and Furkankhan haven’t even been able to assess the magnitude of damage.

Most people who lost their entire stocks of stored grains had only the support of the harvested rainwater to sustain the nightmare.(Express Photo by Bhupendra Rana)

With sadness gripping his face, Yasinkhan is still processing the loss of his home, his entire flock of 12 goats and a buffalo calf, a month-old tractor and car. These two villages, 11 km from Vadodara city, located in low lying areas, have been submerged since August 26. While floodwaters had begun to withdraw from most of Vadodara city by Thursday due to the closure of the dam gates and the rains reducing to a drizzle, the rural farmlands still remain inundated on the periphery of ‘cultural capital’ of Gujarat.

Even the enormity of the situation could not break the perseverance of the Dena village residents. Proudly showing off a ‘raft’ put together with an aluminium sheet and wooden stakes, the residents used it to rescue many of their co-villagers from far-flung areas. They also used it to ferry rations to those who could not be rescued before the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) could reach them.

“Since we were unable to get a boat, we made our own raft for our people…to help them,” said 39-year-old Iqbalhussain Abdulghani Malek.

Dena resident Aslam Bashir Qureshi, who has been part of the rescue and relief operations locally while pointing out to a truck said, “You see that… it was completely inundated.”

“The rain and floods have damaged over 90% homes with a couple of them even collapsing. This level of flooding is not normal. This happened six years ago and even then, it wasn’t so bad. Our elders say that there hasn’t been such a bad flood in more than 70 years,” said Qureshi.

On the reasons for the flooding, locals blamed “development and encroachment of the river banks”. To the left of Dena village, flows the Surya river and to its right is the Vishwamitri river. They converge under the Dhara bridge.

Dena village Sarpanch Waheedkhan Pathan told The Indian Express, “Due to the confluence of these rivers, at least 12 feet of water battered our village. No place was safe. While the Vishwamitri river was already at the point of overflowing due to the heavy rains. The administration opened 22 gates of the Ajwa sarovar, bringing more water into the river. That water had not even subsided when the Vishwamitri brought waters from Pavagadh leading to this extent of flooding and causing such mayhem.”

Another resident on the condition of anonymity said, “We have lost at least 50-60 cattle in the last three days. We tried to look for the missing cattle but turned back after seeing five crocodiles on the banks of the Surya river.”

However, it is not just the immediate damage, but also the long-term impact that has the villagers worried as they attempt to refurbish their lives with leftovers from the flood. Standing amid the carcasses of two dead calves, one half eaten by crocodiles that also inhabit the Surya tributary of Vishwamitri river, owner Raju Bharwad (42) said, “While we haven’t seen most of our cattle since the adult cows and bulls ran away during the flood three days ago, those that are still here haven’t allowed us to milk them because their calves are dead. Against seven litres in a day, the milk output has reduced to less than 500 ml from the couple of cows we tried milking.”

Most people who lost their entire stocks of stored grains had only the support of the harvested rainwater to sustain the nightmare. As for farmland, while the “paddy crop should be alright”, villagers said that “cucumbers and other crops were completely ruined as these farms were still flooded three days later”.

Sarpanch Pathan added, “In 2018 when the flood came, 46 people were to receive compensation but only 22 got it. Now if the government wants to give compensation, I hope they give it to everyone otherwise it causes problems between the villagers. Earlier this month when the village was hit by floods, we were never compensated even after the official inspection. At least 70-80% villagers have suffered losses. I hope the government helps this time around.” The Indian Express attempted to reach out to Vadodara Collector BA Shah, but he remained unavailable for comment.