Covelong Point Surfers Help Rescue 200 Stranded Women From Chennai Floods

As unprecedented heavy rainfall in Tamil Nadu over the last week has crippled the roads of Chennai and various areas around, citizens have been left stranded, as well as casualties nearing 70 people have been recorded.

With roads looking more like rivers, the taxi-aggregation service Ola jumped into action in association with the State’s fire and rescue department and the Chennai Sport Fishing company, by providing a free boat service rescuing citizens as well as providing water and food to areas where they are scarce.

Paramilitary, military and Air Force authorities also contributed greatly to rescue mission across the State. And, as it turns out, they’re not the only ones.

India’s first surfing village Covelong Point, founded by Murthy Megavan, operated a boat-rescue service starting Monday in Medavakkam village close to Chennai. This surf school owns a host of kayaks, fishing boats and rescue boats that they regularly rent to the Coastal Police for various rescue operations, as well as a staff trained in rescue operations.

Called into duty by the local police, coastal police and NGO Banyan, Covelong Point provided a ferry shuttle service with their boats steered by rescue-trained surfers. As founder Murthy tells us, “My staff is trained to rescue in waves with current and tides for any trouble or panic underwater, so they are highly skilled.

For them, three to four feet of rainwater is much easier. The only problem is that this water has many snakes and other small animals.”

On Monday and Tuesday, Murthy and his team rescued several people from the all-women Fomara college, a woman’s hostel and the area around Global Hospital.

The two-and-a-half kilometer road outside the hostel was completely flooded with water, and as Murthy describes it, flowed like a river, making it difficult to walk through.

With some women being guided using a rope by rescue surfers, others rode in the boats steered by Covelong Point’s surfing instructors. Murthy elaborates that they ensured each person rescued was first made aware of the conditions of the road they were crossing and the support they were being given.

Amidst the great havoc created by this relentless rain, Covelong Point’s founder and its staff stand as yet another organisation that can be counted on in times of crisis. As Murthy tells us, “If they call me to run the rescue boats on another day again, I will be there, and so will my boys.”