Dartmoor Search and Rescue team from Tavistock was called to help an injured walker on the moor in the teeth of Storm Noa.

The team was called by the police to respond to a report of an injured walker located east of the East Dart waterfall, and north of Postbridge yesterday (Wednesday).

A woman had slipped and hurt her ankle in extremely strong winds gusting up to 60mph and very heavy rain. She was very cold when the rescuers reached her.

A spokesman said: 'The weather was horrendous, with gale force winds and driving torrential rain and hail. The group was spotted to the west of the river above Braddon Lake stream by the east bank team, who directed the west bank team onto the casualty site. 

'The injured lady had slipped at 10:30am and suffered a suspected broken left ankle. A passing walker had stopped to assist and give reassurance. By the time our members reached her at 1.50pm she was extremely cold so was rapidly assessed, splinted, and placed in an insulated casualty bag with heat packs.

'She was transported on a stretcher back to Postbridge and then transferred to a waiting South Western Ambulance Service ambulance.'

The team split into two, either side of a river, and their task was made even more difficult because they were unable to get a fix on the casualty site using their SARLOC positioning technology because the phone signal in that area was very poor.

To help overcome this handicap, the team split into two from Postbridge, one as a hill party to search upstream along the east bank of the river and a second party was then deployed up the west side of the river.