Fagu Charan Behera, who ferried people to safer places, plying his boat. Telegraph picture

Paradip, Aug. 13: Stories of bravery and survival have come to light as people in the flood-affected areas are heaving a sigh of relief following receding river water level.

In the distressing hours, many donned the mantle of Good Samaritans and rescued the marooned people.

As deluge engulfed large areas into vast sheet of water, admirable rescue work by local people, including the boatmen, has thrown up real life heroes. They risked their lives and overcame hurdles to help out the distressed.

“In the majority of marooned villages, operators of country boats did commendable job by rowing people to safer places when embankments breached at Kujang. They rose to the occasion to help out the people when it mattered the most. We have been told of over a dozen of boatmen, who worked tirelessly to rescue the stranded people, mostly women and children,” said Kujang tehsildar Basudeb Satapathy.

While the government agencies were caught napping, the boatmen carried out the rescue operation by rowing people to safer places such as rooftops of concrete buildings and multipurpose cyclone shelters. The local youths had lent helping hands to the boat operators.

Two pregnant women, in their advanced stages of pregnancy from Teramanapur village, were shifted to Kujang for urgent medical attention.

“A local boatman braving the turbulent floodwater and steady downpour rowed them to safety,” said Sailo sarpanch Sishir Kumar Dash.

Because of act of bravery by local youths and a boatman, a 19-year-old girl was saved from claws of death at Chagharia village in Kendrapara.

The girl was among the curious onlookers, who were watching the tumultuous flow of floodwater near the Luna riverbridge. As ill luck would have it, the girl accidentally fell into the river. As people raised an alarm, a group of youths risked their lives to venture into the floodwater and rescued the girl with the help of a boatman,” said eyewitness Banrubahan Rout of Chagharia village.

Fagu Charan Behera, 75, a boatman from Batira village, said: “Ferrying people is my duty. Everyday, I do so for bread and butter. The area was flooded with the breach on the Paika river embankment on August 8. People sought my services to move to safety. I did not let them down.”

“On other occasions, I charge them for my service. But this time, it was free. I ferried more than 100 local people, mostly woman and children, to safer spots,” he said.

Many of the flood victims had a close brush with death. But, the timely act of bravery by people rescued a number of stranded residents at the flood-affected villages, said Jagatsinghpur tehsildar Pravash Kumar Beuria.