Indian Army, in coordination with the Navy and Air Force, has stepped up its relief and rescue operations by deploying a total of 123 rescue teams in 16 districts spread across four rain-battered states - Maharashtra, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu, Asian News International, ANI, reported on Saturday
NEW DELHI, (Pakistan Point News - 10th Aug, 2019) Indian Army, in coordination with the Navy and Air Force, has stepped up its relief and rescue operations by deploying a total of 123 rescue teams in 16 districts spread across four rain-battered states - Maharashtra, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu, Asian news International, ANI, reported on Saturday.
Thousands of people have been rescued and evacuated from flood-affected areas and have been provided medical aid. Security personnel also distributed food packets to the victims.
On Friday, a total of nine relief teams were deployed in the Western state of Maharashtra's Sirol and Sangli districts to carry out rescue operations. While the flood situation in Kolhapur continues to remain grim, additional 15 Indian Navy teams from Visakhapatnam will reach on Saturday to join the rescue operation, the Maharashtra chief minister's office said in an official tweet.
The army has rescued 17,000 people from Kolhapur District, so far. As many as 27 people have died due to floods in five districts of Pune division while more than 200,000 people have been evacuated to safer places from three districts of Kolhapur, Sangli, and Satara.
In South Indian state of Tamil Nadu's Nilgiri, six relief teams are working on a war footing to carry out rescue and relief operations.
In South Indian state of Kerala, 24 relief teams and eight Engineer Task Force teams are working day and night to save the lives of people residing in Alappuzha, Ernakulam, Pathanamthitta, Idukki, Malappuram, Wayanad, Kannur and Kozhikode districts.
As incessant rains continue to wreak havoc in Kerala, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said on Saturday that all arrangements had been made to conduct rescue operations, adding that as many as 80 landslides had occurred in various parts of the state.
In total, 42 deaths have been reported across the state, with eleven deaths in Wayanad district alone, Vijayan said. "Police, armed forces, fishermen and volunteers are engaging in rescue operations...This gives us confidence to overcome this situation," Vijayan said.
He also shared that 108,138 persons from 29,997 families are in relief camps.
Meanwhile, heavy rains on Friday created havoc for the residents of Chamoli district in the North Indian state of Uttarakhand as well.
The India Meteorological Department (IMD) said rainfall coupled with thunderstorm would continue over the next few days in Chamoli and Tehri districts of the state.
The weather agency predicted heavy rainfall at isolated places over Lakshadweep, North Interior Karnataka, Madhya Maharashtra, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Rajasthan and Andaman and Nicobar Islands, said the ANI report.
