09-07-2025
Mandi cloudbursts: 55 people in this Himachal village owe their lives to a six-month-old puppy — Rocky
If 55 people of 20 families in this Syathi Trimbala in Mandi district are alive today, despite being in the midst of a series of cloudbursts Himachal Pradesh had never witnessed earlier, it is due to a six-month-old puppy — Rocky.
On the night of June 30, massive cloudbursts struck several areas in Mandi district, including Syathi Trimbala, the worst-hit village under Longni Gram Panchayat, sitting by a seasonal rivulet. Around 2 am, Lalit Kumar woke up to the unusually loud and continuous barking of Rocky — a puppy of the local Gaddi breed.
'At first, I thought a 'Baghera' (a local word for leopard) might have entered the area, which could be why Rocky was barking so persistently,' 35-year-old Lalit, the pet owner, told The Indian Express.
But Lalit and other villagers went to a temporary shelter opposite his house by the rivulet to check on Rocky and comfort him, but what they saw left them terrified — the overflowing rivulet on the verge of sweeping the village.
'Water had started entering the village. We rushed out of our houses, shouting and alerting villagers. I put my disabled sister, Anu Devi, 38, on my shoulders, and we all village residents moved toward safer locations,' Lalit, a daily wager and father of a girl child, said.
Villagers said Rocky did what seemed unimaginable for a pup of his age — the pet alerted its owner about the impending danger by barking furiously.
However, amid the hullabaloo, the puppy was nowhere to be found. It was swept away by the strong water current of the rivulet, along with the temporary shelter, only to be found stuck in the bushes the next day.
'We don't know how and when Rocky went back to its shelter. The next day, we found Rocky stuck in the bushes, about 2 to 3 km away from our devastated village,' said Lalit.
Lalit's and other families have taken shelter in a relief camp at Naina Mata under Longni Gram Panchayat. They told The Indian Express, 'If we are alive today, it is only because of Rocky.'
Talking about the devastation wreaked by the cloudburst-triggered massive flooding by the rivulet, Prithi Chand, Up-Pradhan of Longni Gram Panchayat, said, 'Trimbala, the main village, is at a considerable height, but Syathi Trimbala is much lower, sitting by the rivulet, was completely devastated by cloudburst-triggered flash floods and torrential rains. The puppy saved the lives of all villagers.'
