Guwahati: "Thank God the water did not rise further," Putul Bora of Assam, who spent four days on the roof of a two-storey building after water submerged his ground floor room at Kayakulam town in flood-hit Kerala on Thursday evening, told The Telegraph on Tuesday.

"The water rose so fast on Thursday that after submerging the ground floor it reached the first floor by evening. We initially took our clothes, utensils and other items to the first floor but as the water was rising, we decided not to take a chance and kept everything in a room on the roof which we used as a store. The entire night we prayed that the water should not rise further. Thank God it didn't. After remaining stable for a while, it started receding but very slowly. We came down on Sunday morning after the water left our compound. On the roof, we cooked whatever we had and ate together," Bora, 37, said. 

However, he was unable to contact his family as he waited on the roof for the water to recede, since his mobile phone was lost in the floodwaters. Finally, he asked neighbours for the helpline number opened by the Assam State Disaster Management Authority (ASDMA) to say that he was fine. With help from the officials, he talked to his wife and two daughters on Sunday evening.

A native of Jokhola village in Assam's Nagaon district, Bora works in a poultry supply firm at Kayakulam in Allapuzha district. He had moved to Kerala 14 years ago and worked in a fish processing unit in Thiruvananthapuram before moving to his present job in 2015.

"Hundreds from Assam are stranded in inundated parts of Kerala. I have friends and neighbours working in Kerala but I am unable to contact them as I have lost all numbers. Besides, most mobile phones are switched off as batteries cannot be charged because there is no power supply due to the floods," he said.

"I have not seen such a flood here in the past 14 years," he added.

Bora is among the 60,000 migrant workers from Assam who have moved to Kerala in search of jobs. According to Kerala government officials, 20 per cent of the three lakh migrant workers in the state are from Assam while 40 per cent are from Bengal. Most of them work in plywood industries, fish processing units, poultry units, stone-mining quarries and construction projects.

As floods killed over 350 people and wreaked havoc across the south Indian state, many in Assam started calling the three 24x7 helpline numbers (0361-2237219, 2237460 and 94010-44617) opened by ASDMA on Sunday.

ASDMA officials said they have received 73 calls so far from people in Assam and Kerala for information about family members. Some requested that their kin living in Kerala be brought back immediately.

"We are in constant touch with control rooms in Kerala and are sharing details and phone numbers of family members stranded there. We have helped many to talk to their families. Others have told us that water has started receding and now they are waiting for things to improve," a source in ASDMA said.

Bora's nephew, Sourav, who had moved to Thiruvananthapuram five years ago, however, booked a tatkal train ticket and reached his Nagaon home before the floods became serious.

"I had seen floods there a few years ago. So I booked a ticket when there was continuous rain," Sourav said from Jokhola. He said at least 10 to 15 people from his village are still in Kerala.

"I tried to contact them but their phones are switched off. I am just praying for their safety," he said.