Fishermen have been active in helping people during the Kerala floods
Around a hundred people in Kerala's Alapuzzha owe their lives to a group of fishermen, who worked from dawn to dusk in the area over the last three days. Floods in the area started last week, forcing thousands to leave their homes and seek shelter in the relief camps.
The fishermen were called in by the government as dams upstream had to be opened when they were filled to capacity by the worst monsoon in a century.
"They went to places where other people or even the forces conducting rescue operations could not go," one of the locals said.
The fishermen said they started the day around 6 am and return late in the evening. "They packed food for the marooned men and women, calm them down, get them out of high buildings and feed them," another local said.
Many of the survivors had been stuck for days on rooftops. Alapuzzha was one of the worst hit areas in Kerala, where 13 of the 14 districts had been on a red rain alert for days.
Fishermen have emerged as the unsung heroes in Kerala, where nearly 200 people have died in rain-related incidents since August 8.
They were the first to respond to the crisis. Hundreds of fishermen from the state's major fishing centres reached the worst-hit areas -- Pathanamthitta, Alappuzha, Ernakulam and Thrissur districts - with their boats.
Hundreds of rescue teams with more than 90 aircraft and 500 motorboats are engaged in massive relief operations in Kerala.
Even now, around 1,000 people are trapped in pockets of the state, where flood waters have started receding.