its the sound of a whistle that draws people out from flooded buildings at prayag chikhli a village about 8km from kolhapur citylocated at the confluence of three rivers this village is a popular religious destination but for the past four days several of its buildings have been submerged in floodwaters 12 to 15 feet deep on thursday it remained one of the worstaffected by the floods in western maharashtraa rescue team from the white army a disaster management ngo were part of the relief effort a toi photojournalist documented their attempts to reach the stranded starting from the shivaji bridge on the skirts of kolhapur city what is normally an 8km drive to the village is now a 45minute boat ride fraught with peril the vessel has to navigate over submerged rooftops and trees there are also snapped electricity wires floating about dangerouslyas the boat approaches the village sudden gusts and undercurrents rock the boat for everyone on board these are tense momentsthe boats pilot fights to keep it steady its imperative the rescuers reach on timeas they near the village the crew start blowing their whistlessuddenly people start waving from rooftops and halfsubmerged rooms of buildings they have taken shelter in many have hands stretched out some hold out buckets tied to ropes everyone wants food packets and waterstanding on the first floor of a building akshay kamble is delighted to see the boat most houses here have collapsed they crumbled under the pressure of the water we are all in bad shape im glad they are finally taking people to the relief camp at sontali village and towards kolhapur he saysafter receiving a food packet kamble insists that women and children in a school downstream be rescued first he then guides the rescue boat around submerged street lamps and treetops towards the twostorey school called shivaji vidyalay at the other end of the village about 300 people have taken shelter inside the school and as the school comes into sight hundreds start peeping out its windows its smiles all over the rescuers then guide the boat towards the staircase so that two women three girls and a man can be evacuated the team then hands over food packets to those left behindon their way back the severity of the flood is for all to see along the kolhapurratnagiri national highway thousands of motorists use this stretch daily but now its only motorboats and small vesselswater has also flooded ground floors of houses across ambewadi the first village along the highway from the kolhapur side at some places its 15 feet deep a few families that have access to a second floor have moved up as the rescue boat moves around people start emerging from rooftops with hopes of getting some food and water the rescue team has to ensure the food packets are thrown with accuracy if not it could mean precious aid wastedthough stuck in the flood many are still reluctant to move out