On Wednesday, a team of 25 members from the Odisha Disaster Rapid Action Force successfully rescued 248 students from an Ashram school in Kendrapara district. The students had been stranded since Saturday due to rising floodwaters in the area.
This operation highlights the ongoing challenges posed by severe weather conditions in the region, prompting swift responses from local authorities to ensure the safety of affected individuals.
“The floodwaters rose rapidly from Saturday morning and submerged the first floor of the school building. Because my 12-year-old son is stranded in the school, “I have been sleepless for the last two nights. Because they believed the children were safe inside the school building, district officials admitted they initially decided against evacuation.
On Saturday, 284 students of a residential school housing SC/ST students in the district were stranded as floodwaters from the Brahmani river inundated the Kulasahi area, submerging the first floor of the Ashram school.
Kendrapara district collector Raghuram Aiyar said, “Two-hundred-forty-eight students from an Ashram school in Kulashahi, who had been stranded for four days amid the rising and strong floodwaters of the Brahmani river were rescued in three powerboats and taken to two residential schools in the neighbouring Aul block. The students were shifted to the second floor, where they remained safe,” said headmaster Soumendra Das, adding that the school stocked food supplies for a week. The authorities should rescue all the students immediately,” said Sanjay Mallick of Pattamundai.
