Fire officials rescue 28 people stranded due to floods in Vadodara

Fire officials here have rescued 28 people, who were stranded near a flood-hit area along the banks of Vishwamitri River.Due to heavy rains pounding the city since Friday evening, the water from Ajwa reservoir was released to the river, which has now flooded.The flood affected nearby villages, especially Akota area in Devapura village, which left 28 people, who were returning from their work, stranded.Officials of Vadodara Municipal Corporation called fire officials as soon as they received information of stranded people.On Saturday, firemen arrived and started rescue operations and all 28 people, including children, were rescued."The fire officials communicated with stranded people and started the rescue operations immediately. The commissioner of Municipal Corporation of Vadodara, Mayur Suri and I, reached the spot and under our monitoring, the rescue operations took place. I requested the fire officials to rescue stranded 25 to 30 people at the earliest and ensure their safety," said district magistrate of Vadodara, Vinod Rao.Reportedly, the water level in river rose from 16 feet to 17.3 feet within two hours due to torrential rains.