Rescue ops in Wayanad to be wound up

Teams have rescued over 2,000 people stranded in remote areas

A team of Defence Security Corps take up rescue operations at Venniyode in Wayanad district.

After successful completion of flood rescue operations in Wayanad that lasted nearly a fortnight, the rescue operation teams are preparing to leave the hill district.

In all, 150 members of the rescue team, including 35 Navy personnel, 64 Army men of the Defence Security Corps (DSC) and 51 members of the National Disaster Response Force, had reached the district on August 9 with copters, boats and other rescue equipment. They were deployed in different parts of the district. The teams rescued over 2,000 people stranded in remote areas. The also rescued nearly 1,000 heads of cattle during the operations.

“When we reached here on August 9, the situation in the district was very bad. Most of the highways were inundated owing to heavy rain, landslips and opening of shutters of major reservoirs,” column commander Lieutenant Colonel Arun Prakash, DSC centre, Kannur, told

The Hindu .

“When we reached the Periya Ghat section of the road on the Mananthavadi-Kannur State highway, the traffic had been blocked following a landslip. We removed the debris continued our journey, Lt. Col. Arun Prakash said.

We spent the first five days in rescuing stranded people, along with a five-member Naval diving team. We were able to rescue over 450 people stranded in various parts of the district, he said.

He said the most dangerous task they had undertaken was at Venniyodu, where a family was marooned in their house beside the Venniyode River. “The area had already submerged in torrential rainwater and lifting of the shutters of the Banasura Sagar reservoir made the situation worse, he said .

“Swimming is normally possible in 4-knot speed water current but, the speed of the water current across the river was more than 12 knots. But, we could rescue the eight-member family after a two-hour ordeal,” he said.

The teams also rescued many stranded families in the Amba tribal settlement, near Sugandhagiri, after a landslip, for which they reconstructed a 14-km road in two days.

They also reconstructed a 7-km road to Chembera hills from Mepadi in a day after clearing debris of landslide on it.

The Navy team left the district two days ago and we will leave in two days as the situation is almost normal now, Lt. Col. Arun added.