New Delhi: The Indian Coast Guard airlifted six people from a flooded health centre in Odisha’s Ganjam district on Thursday after Cyclone Arnab’s torrential rains cut off villages and disrupted road links. The rescue unfolded as the storm’s inland remnants battered paddy fields in Chhattisgarh, threatening farmers’ harvests.
Acting on a distress call from the Ganjam district administration, an advanced light helicopter (ALH) Mk-III was scrambled from the Coast Guard air enclave in Bhubaneswar to Jagmohan. The helicopter hovered over the flooded public health centre and winched six stranded people to safety, including two women, two children and an elderly person, the Indian Coast Guard confirmed in a post on X.
The evacuees were taken to the community health centre in Dharakote.The Coast Guard’s northeast regional headquarters also placed air and surface assets on high alert for search-and-rescue and humanitarian-relief missions. Aviation crews remained on standby for round-the-clock surveillance, emergency evacuations and possible airdrops of essential supplies to isolated communities.
The aerial operation provided access where swollen rivers and damaged roads hampered rescue teams. Odisha chief secretary, Anu Garg, said 2,328 people remained surrounded by floodwaters in 70 villages of Ganjam, underlining that the helicopter’s six-person evacuation was part of a much larger response.
According to state figures reported by PTI, flooding affected 299 villages in Ganjam and 711 in neighbouring Gajapati. About 62,500 residents were affected across the two districts, while 29,323 had been moved to safety. Authorities deployed 79 disaster-response teams, including personnel from the NDRF, Odisha disaster rapid action force and fire services.
The scale of the downpour was stark: Patrapur in Ganjam received 546 millimeters of rain in the 24 hours ending Thursday morning, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said. The swollen Rushikulya River inundated settlements, while landslides and damaged road links impeded movement. Educational institutions in both districts were ordered closed until October 31.
In a separate operation off Antarvedi in Andhra Pradesh, Indian Coast Guard ship Sujay and a helicopter rescued all 20 crew members of MV Sigma Pearl, which ran aground amid rough seas following Cyclone Arnab. The Coast Guard confirmed that all sailors were safely evacuated, reporting no loss of life at sea during the operation.
Chhattisgarh farmers face crop losses
In Chhattisgarh, two days of intermittent rainfall and strong winds battered ripe paddy as farmers prepared for harvesting around Diwali. Standing crops were flattened and fields waterlogged across parts of the Bastar, Raipur, Bilaspur and Surguja divisions.
Talking to ANI, farmer Tarachand Sahu said crop damage had left him worried about repaying agricultural loans and meeting household expenses. “We demand that the government assess the losses and provide compensation at the earliest,” he said.
Another farmer, Piyush Sahu, warned that crop damage threatened his family’s financial stability as growers awaited paddy procurement. Fellow farmer Motilal Sahu said strong winds and rain had flattened standing paddy crops and left fields waterlogged.
Separate reporting described soaked harvested paddy in Balrampur and flattened standing crops in Raigarh and parts of Raipur. Prolonged waterlogging can delay harvesting, increase labour costs and cause grain to sprout or deteriorate, although official estimates of statewide losses are not yet available.
The Chhattisgarh revenue minister, Tank Ram Verma, said the state would survey affected fields once rainfall eased and decide compensation on the basis of damage assessments. Indira Gandhi Krishi Vishwavidyalaya advised farmers to improve drainage, protect stored grain and avoid pesticide spraying during adverse weather.
Arnab weakens, rain warnings continue
The IMD said Arnab had weakened to a depression over southern Chhattisgarh and adjoining southern Odisha by Thursday morning, centred about 40 kilometers north-northwest of Jagdalpur at 8.30am. It forecast further weakening into a well-marked low-pressure area by evening but warned of heavy to very heavy rain in northern Chhattisgarh and interior Odisha.
The storm’s latest impact follows its landfall in Andhra Pradesh on Wednesday, when RNA Media reported large-scale evacuations, flight disruptions and emergency relief measures as authorities responded to widespread flooding and infrastructure damage.
The union home minister, Amit Shah, assured the affected states of central assistance, with disaster-response teams continuing relief work. For Odisha, reaching isolated settlements remains urgent; in Chhattisgarh, farmers await surveys to establish the damage to their livelihoods.