Uttarakhand: Elephant stranded on island in raging Gaula river rescued by officials; WATCH

Heavy rains in Uttarakhand for the third consecutive day have caused havoc and devastation across the state, claiming several lives. The situation led to the water level of rivers crossing the danger level. As a result, an elephant was seen stranded on a piece of land between Halduchaur and Lalkuan in the raging Gaula river.

The video of the same has gone viral on social media in which the elephant was seen moving around in a circle on the island. The video was first shared by a Twitter user Abhishek Pandey. As soon as locals alerted the forest department, officials rushed to the spot and rescued the mammal, reported news agency ANI.

Meanwhile, the video has gone viral on Twitter with people praising the elephant's strong grit to survive. "As soon as we received the information, a team of forest department was dispatched. The elephant had crossed the river and moved towards Dev Rampur. The forest department has pushed it towards the forest and its movement is being monitored," the Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) of Haldwani, Sandeep Kumar was quoted as saying by ANI. It should be noted here that Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke with Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami on Tuesday to assess the situation in the state. The India Meteorological Department (IMD), the country's weather forecasting agency, has issued a red alert for Uttarakhand, predicting heavy to extremely heavy rainfall in the state over the next few days, reported ANI.  

Have a look at the video here:

Over 300 rescued by NDRF in Uttarakhand

The National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) has rescued over 300 people from flood-affected areas of Uttarakhand, the federal force said on Tuesday. The NDRF has deployed 15 teams in the state, where 16 people have died in rain-related incidents so far. The Kumaon region of the hill state has been severely hit by heavy rains, leading to razing of houses and leaving many trapped in the debris. "Rescue operation is in progress and so far, teams have evacuated more than 300 stranded persons from Udham Singh Nagar district and other flood-affected areas," an NDRF spokesperson said.

He stated that while six teams are deployed in Udham Singh Nagar, two teams each are stationed in Uttarkashi, Chamoli and one team each in Dehradun, Pithoragarh and Haridwar.

"One team and a sub-team have been deployed in Nainital while one sub-team is placed at Almora," the spokesperson said.

(With ANI inputs)

Image: ANI