Kendrapada: More than 300 students and teachers of a government-run residential school for Scheduled Caste (SC) and Scheduled Tribe (ST) students were rescued by the Odisha Disaster Rapid Action Force (ODRAF) on Wednesday after remaining stranded for four days due to flooding at Kulasahi village in Kendrapada district.
The school campus was inundated by floodwaters from the Brahmani River on Saturday, forcing the students, teachers and other inmates to take shelter on the first floor of the school building.
Following the flood situation, a 25-member ODRAF team from Kataka reached the school and launched a rescue operation. The team was divided into three units and used three boats to evacuate the stranded students and teachers from the flooded campus.
The rescue operation was carried out under the supervision of the Pattamundai Tahsildar and Block Development Officer (BDO).
After the evacuation, the district administration shifted the rescued students and teachers to the nearby Mahadeipatana Abasika Sebashram School at Batipada, where arrangements were made for their temporary stay.
An ODRAF official said the team from Kataka was divided into three groups for the operation and used three boats to evacuate the students from the flooded campus.
“Under the supervision of the Pattamundai Tahsildar and BDO, we evacuated the students. The administration arranged buses to shift them to Mahadeipatana Abasika Sebashram School at Batipada,” the official said.
The rescue operation brought relief to the students and teachers who had remained stranded inside the flood-affected school for four days.
