Four National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) teams have been in the forefront of action since Monday in flooded parts of Bengaluru and rescued more than 200 people. They are working with assistance from State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) and Fire and Emergency Services.
“We have two teams of 60 NDRF personnel that we have further split into two, and have carried out operations at four places in the last two days,” said J. Senthil Kumar, Assistant commandant and operation in-charge of NDRF in Bengaluru, who was busy near Rainbow Drive Layout. The personnel began their operations in the city in the wee hours of Monday.
They first attended to a distress call from Chaithanya Greenford Apartments at Seegehalli where 71 residents were evacuated. At around 8.45 a.m., a team reached Cuemath Center near Panathur from where they evacuated four men, two women, and two children. Although the civic authorities tried to carry on evacuation with JCB, when it did not work, they requested the NDRF to evacuate people by boats.
Later, from DNA Iris Apartment in Whitefield, they rescued 84 stranded residents, which included 31 men, 29 women, and 24 children. At TZed homes on Varthur Road, NDRF rescued 12 senior citizens, of which, some were wheelchair bound. The team also continued to evacuate residents from Rainbow Drive Layout and by afternoon, all residents were shifted to safe locations.
Commenting on the unprecedented rains, Mr. Kumar said: “The lakes are filled to the brim and overflowing. The IMD has also issued a yellow alert in some places in Karnataka. We request people to seek shelter in the homes of friends and relatives which are on higher ground until the situation gets better.”
Army deployed too
City-based Madras Sappers, a regiment of the Indian Army, was also deployed on Tuesday to rescue over 30 people using boats from a flooded residential colony in Yamalur. The team was deployed at a short notice due to the rising water levels and after access to the locality was cut off.
