Man Survives Five Days Clinging to Palm Tree After Odisha Flood

In a remarkable tale of survival, a man who was swept away by the floodwaters of the Pochara River in Odisha’s Bhadrak district was rescued after spending five days clinging to a palm tree.

Sunanda Behera, a resident of Balipatana village in Dhamnagar block, went missing after being swept away by the surging floodwaters. Villagers searched for him for several days, but there was no sign of him.

Hope of finding him alive had begun to fade when villagers travelling by boat through the Bajapati field area spotted a man clinging to a palm tree in the middle of the floodwaters. They soon realised it was Behera and alerted the Odisha Disaster Rapid Action Force (ODRAF).

An ODRAF team reached the spot and carried out a difficult rescue operation. Behera was eventually brought to safety, extremely weak and exhausted after reportedly surviving five days without food.

“His hands and legs were trembling when rescuers brought him ashore,” an ODRAF personnel said.

He was immediately taken to a nearby hospital, where doctors began treatment. His condition was reported to be serious.

Meanwhile, Odisha Fire & Emergency Service IG UK Dash said around 1,000 people and 150 domestic animals had been rescued from the floods. As many as 125 firefighter teams were deployed across six flood-affected districts for rescue and relief operations.