The last few days has seen Bengaluru go under water like never before. Water logging and the problems in its wake — lack of electricity, shortage of drinking water and rations, stranded animals — became commonplace overnight. WhatsApp messages offering help in some of these situations began doing the rounds.
One of these was a poster by Dirty Drivez, an off-roading club in the city, offering their services to bail out people or vehicles. Run by a group of eight friends — Melbin Michael, Sujith Joseph, Santhosh Kumar, Sarvana S, Arun Sasidhar, Girish M, Kiran B, Sasi Kumar and Santhosh Mesthiri — the club had heavy-duty vehicles used to ploughing through rough terrain at their disposal.
“We have also had some experience in rescue operations during the Kerala floods. So after seeing photos and videos of people in distress we swung into action,” says Melbin Joseph, founder of Dirty Drivez, adding that their fleet of airboats from Decathalon, marine fibre boats with portable engines from Honda and modified Thars was put into good use during this time.
Melbin and his team ended up working alongside the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) in some cases as the club’s vehicles were better suited to slushy stretches as well as watery ones. “There were times we went ahead to clear the way so the NDRF could follow after and evacuate stranded people. The next day we spent a lot of time rescuing animals which were left behind on farms and at homes.”
The team also had people volunteering their services — from screening calls to assisting them on rescue operations. “We would get calls from people asking us to pick them up from places where water had not stagnated above 1.5 feet, simply because they didn’t want to step into ‘dirty, drain water’. Our volunteers would confirm the veracity of the call before sending us there,” says Melbin, adding most of the badly affected areas were Varathur, Bellandur and Whitefield.
Jonas Varghese, a businessman in the city who happened to see their WhatsApp message called them up to volunteer his services. “I am a Mahindra-certified off road driver and since we are familiar with driving through various terrain, I decided to offer my experience; I also took my Thar on these operations with the team,” says Jonas. “With the rain abating and water receding, most of the work the team is doing relates to towing vehicles out of submerged basements,” he adds.
Melbin says his team is willing to impart free flood rescue training. Call 97392 15124, 89716 03607, 98863 63288.
