A team of the Odisha disaster response force rescued at least 24 individuals trapped in a village in Bhadrak district. The village was flooded after cyclone Dana triggered heavy rainfall, and caused several rivers to swell, officials said Sunday.
The rescue operation was carried out on Saturday night by personnel of the Odisha Disaster Rapid Action Force (ODRAF) at Tala Gopabindha village under Tihidi police station area, they said.
The trapped people, including children, women and senior citizens, were rescued with the help of motor boats and taken to a cyclone shelter, an official statement said.
They were left stranded as the village was flooded due to rising waters of the swollen Salandi river, it said.
Satyajit Naik, DIG (Eastern Range), monitored the rescue operation.
“The state's preparedness and response to natural disasters have once again saved lives and mitigated the impact of the swollen Salandi river,” the statement added.
Cyclone Dana struck the eastern coast early Friday, triggering torrential rain and high-speed winds. Besides flooding in 14 districts, a total of 35.95 lakh people in Odisha have been impacted by cyclone Dana, said Odisha's Revenue and Disaster Management Minister Suresh Pujari.
Pujari also said as many as 8,10,896 people were evacuated to 6,210 cyclone relief centres.